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Foundation president, Harvey Fineberg, and chairman and co-founder, Gordon Moore, discuss the Statement of Founders' Intent with staff.
Moore Foundation Headquarters 1661 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304
Our ability to take risks and make long-term and relatively large commitments often allow us to undertake challenges not accessible to many other organizations.
University of California, Santa Barbara National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
24 months
Data Task Forces for Better Synthesis Studies: Part 1
Aug 2016
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Electronic Monitoring and Reporting Grant Program for New England
Jul 2016
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
18 months
Advanced Technology Initiative for Ocean Science
The Advisory Center for Health Professionals
12 months
The Advisory for Health Professionals Pilot Project
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Biochemistry
14 months
The Second Scialog: Molecules Come To Life Research Competition
Boise State University, Department of Physics
The Second Scialog: Molecules Come To Life
Broad Institute Inc.
University of Denver, Department of Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics
Northwestern University, Department of Applied Physics
Harvard University, John A. Paulson School of Engineering
University of California, Santa Barbara Department of Mechanical Engineering
Rochester Institute of Technology, School of Physics & Astronomy
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Physics
Ohio State University, Department of Molecular Genetics
University of California, Santa Cruz Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Green Center for Systems Biology
National Committee for Quality Assurance
5 months
Serious Illness Care Standards and Measures
Project HOPE (Health Affairs)
Health Affairs Serious Illness and End-of-Life Thematic Issue
Instituto del Bien Comun (The Common Good Institute)
15 months
Building a Durable Regional Conservation System in Loreto, Peru
Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia
Development of a Web-Based Portal to Improve the Management Effectiveness of Brazil's Amazon Protected Areas
Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazonia (Institute of Man and Environment in the Amazon)
Partnership for Public Service
Partnership for Public Service: Customer Service Index
University of California, San Francisco, Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care
6 months
Data Collection and Analysis Grant for EMERGE at University of California, San Francisco


text:
Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention - Leading the effort to treat and prevent diabetes in American Indians and Alaska Natives
Physical Activity and Diabetes Hub
Rollover the icons in the hub to see what's available. Information is based on the Standards of Care and Clinical Practice Recommendations: Type 2 Diabetes. Patient education material available from the Online Catalog. Please tell us what you think about this page.
NOTE: Access to this information is not restricted; however, the information found here is intended as an educational resource for medical providers. Please be aware that some videos contain medical images. If you have questions or concerns about how any of the information relates to your own care, please contact your medical provider.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Stetson men's and women's tennis programs are proud to announce a pair of summer camp sessions being offered this June. Campers from the age of 5 to 18 are encouraged to sign up for session one from June 10-14, or session two from June 17-21.
Camp Director and Stetson Assistant Coach Christophe Noblet will be joined by Hatter Director of Tennis Pierre Pilote in helping each camper improve in the fundamentals of tennis, develop sportsmanship skills, and have fun in a supportive environment.
Both sessions will offer two different formulas this summer:
Lil' Hatters
- Cost: $145
- Open to ages 5 to 9 (co-ed)
- Monday - Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (half day)
- "Slower balls, smaller courts, more fun."
The idea here to use the very popular "10 and Under" USTA format, where the courts dimensions, racquet sizes, and tennis balls are all specially adapted to this younger population.
Elite Hatters
- Cost: $250
- Open to ages 9 to 18 (co-ed)
- Monday - Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
- "Train like a champion."
Under the Elite Hatters concept, the emphasis is placed on developing in each player the technical, tactical, physical, and mental requirements of the game of tennis.
Click Here to Register
Note: NCAA bylaws 13.12.13: Stetson camps/clinics are open to any and all entrants (limited only by number, age, grade level and/or gender.


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Big city with a beautiful skyline. Although geographically placed in the Midwestern state of Illinois, it should be considered it's own state since the rest of the midwest is filled with drunk redneck republicans.
"So your from Illinois?"
"No-I'm from Chicago"
"No-I'm from Chicago"
by Laur December 10, 2004
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
Photos & Videos
Top Definition
Best damn city in the world!
Chicago rocks hard, yo!
by some dude December 28, 2004
Truly one of the greatest cities in the entire nation. With a total population exceeding 2.9 million inside the city limits alone, multiple cultures and ethnicities, cool-sounding urban, midwestern nasal accents (see ear candy), a rich history, tons of museums, theaters, arcades, the Brookfield Zoo; the best pizza outside of New York City, and probably one of the best city skylines in the United States, Chicago has something to offer to everyone. It is a higher standard of a metropolis that all other American cities strive to be like(and many of them have succeeded in that: see Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, DC, Denver, Omaha, and Seattle.
Chicago is the ultimate economic, cultural, educational, business, entertainment, industrial, and population center of the Midwest.
by Republican Warrior March 29, 2005
One of the most, if not the most, beautiful cities in the US.
"Chicago is the Verona of America," (spoken with an Italian accent).
by Max Moriarty June 28, 2005
hottest city alive, i live there
go to chicago muh fucka
by orielah February 25, 2005
If you keep saying that only gangs are from there, you have better been all over the damn city.
Chicago rules fuckers.
by Adrian Herrera January 08, 2005
one kickass town, home of the sears tower, hancock building, the navy pier, kapone, some kickass rappers like twista. If you can't hang here, don't bother trying. I live in the 'burbs though, but i've been therre plenty of times.
by mr. johnny March 05, 2004


text:
Missing Springfield Township man sought
GIRARD -- State police are asking the public for help finding a missing Springfield Township man.
Police said Phillip James Mezzacapo, 40, was last seen Thursday at his Ridge Road residence.
Mezzacapo is about 5 feet three inches tall, 140 pounds and usually shaves his head, police said.
Police asked anyone with information about his whereabouts to call the Girard barracks at 774-9611.
See Monday's Erie Times-News and GoErie.com for more coverage.


text:
Society for Ecological Restoration International
Andrew Clewell, John Rieger, and John Munro
(2nd Edition, December 2005)
copyright 2005
The SER Guidelines are available in English, Portuguese, and Italian.
1. Preface to the Second Edition
2. Introduction
3. Conceptual Planning
4. Preliminary Tasks
5. Implementation Planning
6. Implementation Tasks
7. Post Implementation Tasks
8. Evaluation and Publicity
* "Restoration" when used alone in this document connotes "ecological restoration."
Section 3: Conceptual Planning
Conceptual planning identifies the restoration project site, specifies restoration goals, and provides relevant background information. Conceptual planning is conducted when restoration appears to be a feasible option but before a decision has been made to exercise that option. Conceptual planning provides preliminary information such as observations from site reconnaissance and perhaps a few representative measurements. Detailed, systematic inventories of ecosystem properties and the biota are not included in this phase of activity. Written responses to Guidelines #1 through #16 collectively comprise the conceptual plan and broadly characterize the proposed restoration project.
1. Identify the project site location and its boundaries. Delineate project boundaries and portray them as maps, preferably generated on a small-scale aerial photograph and also on soil and topographic maps that show the watershed and other aspects of the surrounding landscape. Use of GPS (Global Positioning System), land survey, or other measurement devices as appropriate is encouraged.
2. Identify ownership. Give the name and address of the landowner(s). If an organization or institution owns or manages all or part of the site, give the names and titles of key personnel. Note the auspices under which the project will be conducted—public works, environmental stewardship, mitigation, etc. If there is more than one owner, make sure that all are in agreement with the goals and methods proposed for the restoration program.
3. Identify the need for ecological restoration. Tell what happened at the site that precipitated the need for restoration. Describe the improvements that are anticipated following restoration. Benefits may be ecological, economic, cultural, aesthetic, educational, and scientific. Ecological benefits may amplify biodiversity; improve food chain support, etc. Economic benefits are natural services (also called social services) and products that ecosystems contribute towards human wellbeing and economic sustainability. Ecosystems in this regard are recognized and valued as natural capital.
Cultural improvements may include social performance and rituals, passive recreation, and spiritual renewal. Aesthetic benefits pertain to the intrinsic natural beauty of native ecosystems. Educational benefits accrue from advances in environmental literacy that students gain from participating in, or learning about, ecological restoration. Scientific benefits accrue when a restoration project site is used for demonstration of ecological principles and concepts or as an experimental area.
4. Identify the kind of ecosystem to be restored. Name and briefly describe the kind of ecosystem that was degraded, damaged, or destroyed, for example, tropical dry forest, vernal pool, semiarid steppe, shola (India), chalk meadow (Europe), cypress swamp (USA), etc. Other descriptors should be added to facilitate communication with those who may not be familiar with the natural landscapes in the bioregion. These descriptors should include the names of a few characteristic or conspicuous species and should indicate community structure (desert, grassland, savannah, woodland, forest, etc.), life form (herbaceous perennial, succulent, shrub, evergreen tree, etc.), predominant taxonomic categories (coniferous, graminaceous, etc.), moisture conditions (hydric, xeric, etc.), salinity conditions (freshwater, brackish, saline, etc.), and geomorphologic context (montane, alluvial, estuarine, etc.). Reference to readily accessible published descriptions can augment or replace some of these descriptors.
5. Identify restoration goals. Goals are the ideal states and conditions that an ecological restoration effort attempts to achieve. Written expressions of goals provide the basis for all restoration activities, and later they become the basis for project evaluation. We cannot overemphasize the importance of expressing each and every project goal with a succinct and carefully crafted statement. All ecological restoration projects share a common suite of ecological goals that consist of recovering ecosystem integrity, health, and the potential for long-term sustainability. They are listed as the attributes of restored ecosystems in Section 3 of the SER International Primer. They deserve to be restated for each restoration project. Otherwise, they can be underappreciated or overlooked by authorities and other interested parties who are not well versed in ecological restoration. A project may have additional ecological goals, such as to provide habitat for particular species or to reassemble particular biotic communities.
Statements of ecological goals should candidly express the degree to which recovery can be anticipated to a former state or trajectory. Some ecosystems can be faithfully restored to a known or probable historic condition, particularly when degradation or damage is not severe and where human demographic pressures are light, plant species richness are low on account of rigorous environmental conditions, and where the ecologically young vegetation in a newly restored ecosystem tends to resemble the mature vegetation of the pre-disturbance state. Even so, the restored ecosystem will undoubtedly differ in some respects from its model, owing to the complex and seemingly random (stochastic) aspects of ecosystem dynamics. Other restorations may not even approximate a historical model or reference, because contemporary constraints or conditions prevent restoration to a former, historic condition.
Restoration can be conducted in any of five contexts. The appropriate context should be identified in the project goals in order to underscore the intent of restoration and to avoid or minimize subsequent misunderstandings, conflict and criticisms. They are:
All ecological restoration projects have cultural goals (see Guideline #3), even though such goals may be implied in the enabling legislation that authorizes public agencies to conduct or permit project work.
All cultural goals should be stated clearly, because they provide the basis for public understanding of the benefits of a project. Public appreciation is conducive to garnering fiscal support, to accommodation of project activities by public agencies, to attracting stakeholder participation in project planning and implementation, and to commanding respect for the restored ecosystem by local residents.
6. Identify physical site conditions in need of repair. Many ecosystems in need of restoration are dysfunctional on account of damage to the physical environment, such as soil compaction, soil erosion, surface water diversion, and impediments to tidal inundation. The physical ensecvironment must be capable of sustaining viable, reproductive species populations that comprise the biota of the restored ecosystem.
7. Identify stressors in need of regulation or re-initiation. Stressors are recurring factors in the environment that maintain the integrity of an ecosystem by discouraging the establishment of what would otherwise be competitive species. Examples are fires, anoxia caused by flooding or prolonged hydroperiod, periodic drought, salinity shocks associated with tides and coastal aerosols, freezing temperatures, and unstable substrates caused by water, wind or gravity as on beaches, dunes, and flood plains. In some ecosystems, stressors may include sustainable cultural activities, such as the periodic harvest of biotic resources and the ignition of fires. These should be identified as stressors of cultural origin.
8. Identify and list the kinds of biotic interventions that are needed. Many restoration projects require manipulation of the biota, particularly vegetation, to reduce or eradicate unwanted species and to introduce or augment populations of desirable species. Invasive non-native species generally require extirpation. Other species, native or non-native, may be removed if they retard or arrest biotic succession. Species that may need introduction include mycorrhizal fungi, N-fixing bacteria, other soil microbiota and, in aquatic environments, benthic infauna (animals that live in sediments). Mobile animals generally colonize restored habitats spontaneously; however, animal introductions are sometimes needed. Animals can be enticed to colonize project sites by providing perches for birds, distributing coarse detritus for small animal cover, preparing a variety of different substrates in streams as habitat for macroinvertebrates, etc.
9. Identify landscape restrictions. Population demographics of many species at a project site may be adversely affected by external conditions and activities offsite in the surrounding landscape. Land and water usage are commonly at fault. Restoration should not be attempted if the landscape is likely to be heavily compromised.
Restoration of some aquatic ecosystems depends entirely on making ecological improvements elsewhere in the catchment, and all restoration work is accomplished offsite. An example of an impact from offsite would be discharge of turbid or polluted water such as agricultural runoff that reaches a proposed project site. Another example would be recurrent flooding and consequent sedimentation in a lowland site that was caused by unrestrained runoff following harvest of montane forest. In this instance, restoration efforts might be better directed at afforestation (forest recovery) in highlands. The hydrologic regime in any project site can be altered offsite by dams, drainage projects, diversions of runoff caused by highways and other public works, and by impervious surfaces on developed land. Water tables can be depressed gradually by transpiration following reforestation and can be raised acutely after timber harvest or after ditches are filled. Fire frequency is reduced by intentional suppression and by landscape fragmentation that interrupts the cover of flammable vegetation. Fire hazards develop in the form of dense brush in response to fire suppression. Exotic species colonization onsite is commonly traced to infestations offsite. The presence or abundance of birds and other mobile animals in the restored ecosystem depends on the health of other ecosystems in the landscape that comprise parts of their territories.
Hazards elsewhere in the landscape such as these should be identified and evaluated in terms of their potential to compromise restoration efforts, and the possibility that they can be ameliorated should be assessed realistically.
10. Identify project-funding sources. Potential external funding sources should be listed if internal funding is inadequate.
11. Identify labor sources and equipment needs. Personnel may have to be hired, volunteers invited, and other labor contracted. Determine the need and availability of special equipment.
12. Identify biotic resource needs and sources. Biotic resources may include seeds, other plant propagules, nursery-grown planting stocks, and animals for establishment at the project site. Some stocks are commercially available. Others, such as seeds of native plants, may have to be collected from other natural areas.
13. Identify the need for securing permits required by government agencies. Permits may be required for tasks such as the excavation or filling of streams and wetlands, other earthwork activities, herbicide use, and prescribed burning. Other permits may be applicable for the protection of endangered species, historic sites, etc.
14. Identify permit specifications, deed restrictions, and other legal constraints. Zoning regulations and restrictive covenants may preclude certain restoration activities. Legal restrictions on ingress and egress could prevent the implementation of some restoration tasks. If the restoration is to be placed under conservation easement, the timing of the easement must be satisfied and manipulations to the environment may have to be completed prior to the effective date of the easement. If restoration is to be conducted under contract or as mitigation or mitigation banking, contract conditions and permit specifications must be compatible with the restoration plan and incorporated into it. If they are not, negotiations may have to be conducted with the agency in charge.
15. Identify project duration. Project duration can greatly affect project costs. Short-term restoration projects can be more costly than longer-term projects. The longer the project, the more the practitioner can rely on natural recovery and volunteer labor to accomplish specific restoration objectives that are identified below in Guideline #27. In accelerated restoration programs such as mitigation projects, costly interventions must substitute for these natural processes.
16. Identify strategies for long-term protection and management. Ecological restoration is meaningless without reasonable assurance that the project site will be protected and properly managed into the indefinite future. To the extent possible, threats to the integrity of a restored ecosystem on privately owned land should be minimized by mechanisms such as conservation easements or other kinds of zoning. External threats can be reduced by buffers and binding commitments from neighboring landowners. Alternatively, the restored ecosystem could be legally transferred to a public resource agency or non-governmental organization. However, the protection and management of restored ecosystems on public lands are not guaranteed, and a formal commitment for that purpose by the responsible agency is desirable.
Section 4: Preliminary Tasks
Preliminary tasks are those upon which project planning depends. These tasks form the foundation for well-conceived restoration designs. Preliminary tasks are fulfilled after the completion of conceptual planning and the decision to proceed with the restoration project.
17. Appoint a restoration practitioner who is in charge of all technical aspects of restoration. Restoration projects are complex, require the coordination of diverse activities, and demand numerous decisions owing in part to the complex nature of ecosystem development. For these reasons, leadership should be vested in a restoration practitioner who maintains overview of the entire project and who has the authority to act quickly and decisively to obviate threats to project integrity. Many smaller projects can be accomplished by a single practitioner who functions in various roles—from project director and manager to field technician and laborer. Larger projects may require the appointment of a chief restoration practitioner who oversees a restoration team that includes other restoration practitioners. The chief practitioner may delegate specific tasks but retains the ultimate responsibility for the attainment of objectives.
Ideally, the expertise of the chief practitioner should be solicited by project planners. If restoration is a subcontract component of a larger project, the chief practitioner should enjoy equal status with other subcontractors to prevent actions that could complicate scheduling, compromise restoration quality, and inflate costs. In any event, the chief practitioner and the project manager should maintain open lines of communication.
Practitioner responsibilities are sometimes divided according to the organizational charts of larger corporations and government bureaus. Pluralistic leadership augments the potential for errors in project design and implementation. In mitigation projects, agency personnel become silent co-partners with the chief practitioner when they mandate particular restoration activities as permit specifications. This practice reduces the chief practitioner's capacity for flexibility and innovation, including the prompt implementation of mid-course corrections. The preparation of a written guidance document, based upon responses to these guidelines, will help promote the judicious execution of the restoration project in cases of pluralistic leadership.
18. Appoint the restoration team. For larger projects, the chief practitioner may need the collaboration of other practitioners to supervise labor crews and subcontractors and also of technical personnel with critical skills and expertise. Collectively, they comprise the restoration team. It is essential that the responsibilities of each individual are clearly assigned and that each person be given concomitant authority.
19. Prepare a budget to accommodate the completion of preliminary tasks. The budget addresses labor and materials and includes funds needed for reporting. It recommends or specifies a schedule of events.
20. Document existing project site conditions and describe the biota. This guideline builds on preliminary information in the responses to guidelines #3 and #4 and is significantly more comprehensive and detailed. Documentation for this guideline should include a systematic inventory that quantifies the degree of degradation or damage. Species composition should be determined and species abundance estimated. The structure of all component communities should be described in sufficient detail to allow a realistic prediction of the effectiveness of subsequent restoration efforts. Soils, hydrology, and other aspects of the physical environment should be described. Such information is critical later in project evaluation, which depends in part upon being able to contrast the project site before and after restoration.
Properly labeled and archived photographs are essential for documenting any restoration project. Numerous photos should be taken with care during good photographic conditions prior to conducting any restoration work. Photographic locations and compass directions should be recorded, so that before and after photos can be compared. Close-up and wide angle photos should be included, with some taken from an elevated position as from the cargo bed of a truck. Videotapes, aerial photographs, and oblique aerial photos from a low-flying aircraft are helpful.
21. Document the project site history that led to the need for restoration. Site history that was identified for Guideline #3 is expanded, if necessary, to provide a comprehensive overview. The years during which impacts occurred should be recorded. Historical aerial photos that show the pre-disturbance state and that show disturbance events are helpful.
22. Conduct pre-project monitoring as needed. Often it is useful or requisite to obtain baseline measurements on such parameters as water quality, groundwater elevation, and gross metabolism of soil organisms for a year or more prior to initial project installation. If so, these measurements will continue throughout the life of the project as part of the monitoring program. Unanticipated extremes in data can indicate problems that might require mid-course correction to prevent the collapse of the project. Upon project completion, the data are assessed to help evaluate the effectiveness of restoration.
23. Establish the reference ecosystem or "reference." The reference model represents the future condition or target on which the restoration is designed and which will serve later as a basis for project evaluation. The reference can consist of the pre-disturbance condition if it is known, one or more undisturbed sites with the same type of ecosystem, descriptions of such sites, or another document, as described in Section 5 of the SER International Primer. The reference must be sufficiently broad to accommodate the amplitude of potential endpoints that could reasonably be expected from restoration.
The selection of the reference increases in difficulty in instances where contemporary constraints and conditions alter the historic trajectory or in other instances where the bioregion lacks comparative ecosystems of the kind being restored. In extreme cases, the only concrete reference data may consist of a list of native species that could potentially contribute to the assembly of an ecosystem with the intended community structure. The degree to which the reference can serve as a model for a restoration project and for its evaluation depends on its specificity and its appropriateness, and both can vary widely among projects. In some projects, the reference can serve almost as a template. In others, it can only hint at the direction of development.
24. Gather pertinent autecological information for key species. The chief practitioner should access whatever knowledge is available regarding the recruitment, maintenance, and reproduction of key species. If necessary, trials and tests of species establishment and growth can be conducted by the restoration team prior to project implementation.
25. Conduct investigations as needed to assess the effectiveness of restoration methods and strategies. Innovative restoration methods may require testing prior to their implementation at the project site. Experimental plots or small-scale "pilot projects" may demonstrate feasibility or reveal weaknesses in restoration design and execution prior to attempting larger-scale restoration. Pilot projects are particularly useful in attempting the restoration of a particular kind of ecosystem for the first time in a bioregion.
26. Decide whether ecosystem goals are realistic or whether they need modification. The selection of realistic goals is crucial. The potential for the achievement of some goals that were identified during conceptual planning (Guideline #5) may now appear unrealistic in light of more thorough information generated subsequently. Other goals could be added. At this time, the project team should reassess the selection of goals in Guideline #5 and make modifications if warranted.
27. Prepare a list of objectives designed to achieve restoration goals. In order to achieve restoration goals, explicit actions are undertaken to attain specific end results. Each end result is called an objective. For example, if the goal is to recover the former forest ecosystem on land that was converted for the production of row-crops, one objective might be to establish tree cover with a designated species composition and species abundance at a finite location in that field. In restoration projects that are conducted under contract, objectives are ordinarily "time certain," meaning that they are to be done within a specified length of time in order to accommodate project planning, budgeting, and regulatory concern.
Objectives are subject to precise empirical determination, as will be described in Guideline #36. Objectives are selected with the anticipation that their completion will allow the fulfillment of project goals. Goals are less amenable to precise empirical determination, because they require measurements of innumerable parameters that are constantly subject to change on account of ecosystem dynamics. For that reason, objectives are used as indicators of the achievement of goals.
Ecological objectives are realized by manipulating the biota and/or the physical environment. Some are executed at the beginning of restoration, such as removing a road, filling a previously excavated canal, or adding organic matter or lime to the soil. Other objectives require repetitious actions, such as the periodic ignition of prescribed fires or the removal of recurring invasive species that threaten the establishment of desirable vegetation. Some objectives may require actions that take place offsite to improve conditions onsite. The number of ecological objectives for an ecological restoration project may vary from one to many, depending upon project goals and the degree to which the ecosystem was degraded or damaged.
Cultural objectives pertain to the realization of cultural project goals. These objectives may involve publicity campaigns, public celebrations of restoration in progress, participation of stakeholders and school children in restoration implementation and monitoring, and other actions that ensure cultural intimacy with ecosystem recovery.
28. Secure permits required by regulatory and zoning authorities. These permits were identified in guidelines #13 and #14.
29. Establish liaison with interested public agencies. Ecological restoration is necessarily an endeavor of public concern, even if it is conducted on privately owned land without public expenditure. A restored ecosystem provides beneficial natural services well beyond property boundaries. Since restoration generally contributes to public wellbeing, public agencies that are responsible for natural resource protection and management should be aware of any restoration projects within their jurisdictions, regardless of ownership and funding. Upon their recognition, restoration projects can be afforded protection, favorable publicity, attentive management, or other favorable accommodation by public agencies. Site tours, websites, newsletters, and press releases are ways of establishing liaison with public agencies. Interagency memoranda can inform other agencies of restoration projects initiated by a sponsoring agency on public land.
30. Establish liaison with the public and publicize the project. Local residents automatically become stakeholders in the restoration. They need to know how the restored ecosystem can benefit them personally. For example, the restoration may attract ecotourism that will benefit local businesses, or it may serve as an environmental education venue for local schools. If residents favor the restoration, they will protect it and vest it with their political support. If they are unaware of the restoration and its public benefits, they may vandalize or otherwise disrespect it.
31. Arrange for public participation in project planning and implementation to fulfill cultural goals. Many ecological restoration projects are conducted in technocratic manner; particularly those that are intended to satisfy contract conditions and permit stipulations required by public agencies. The public is commonly excluded except at legally required and sometimes perfunctory public hearings. Restoration is planned, implemented, and monitored by trained professionals without the assistance of volunteers from the public who may be perceived as liability risks for insurance purposes and who could complicate scheduling and supervision. Public participation could increase project costs and threaten timely project completion. However, the exclusion of the public can cause other problems such as those mentioned in Guideline #30. Public agencies should consider incentives for the restoration team to incorporate local residents and other stakeholders in all phases of project work. By doing so, the public will develop a feeling of ownership, and participants may assume a stewardship role for the completed project.
32. Install roads and other infrastructure needed to facilitate project implementation. Ordinarily, restoration projects remove roads and other infrastructure. However, improvements or new construction may be necessary to provide access to project sites or otherwise facilitate project implementation and maintenance. For instance, infrastructure improvement could reduce down time, improve safety, create opportunities for public relations tours, reduce trafficking through sensitive habitats, and discourage erosion from surface runoff on exposed land. Haul roads, staging areas, and fire lanes should be constructed as needed. To the extent possible, infrastructure should be removed in a subsequent task during project implementation.
33. Engage and train personnel who will supervise and conduct project implementation tasks. Project personnel who lack restoration experience or knowledge of particular methods will benefit from attending workshops and conferences that provide background information. Otherwise, the chief practitioner should provide or arrange for training. Ideally, everyone who engages in the restoration, including laborers, should be briefed on project goals and objectives.
Section 5: Implementation Planning
Implementation plans describe the tasks that will be performed to realize project objectives. These tasks collectively comprise the project design. The care and thoroughness with which implementation planning is conducted will be reflected by how aptly implementation tasks are executed.
34. Describe the interventions that will be implemented to attain each objective. The chief practitioner designates and describes all actions, treatments, and manipulations needed to accomplish each objective listed in Guideline #27. For example, if the objective is to establish tree cover with a designated species composition and species abundance on former cropland, one intervention could be to plant sapling trees of the designated species at specified densities.
Restoration projects should be designed to reduce the need for mid-course corrections that inflate costs and cause delays. In that regard, special care should be given to the design of site preparation activities that precede the introduction of biotic resources. Once biotic resources are introduced, it may become exceedingly difficult and expensive to repair dysfunctional aspects of the physical environment on account of inadequate site preparation.
Some restoration interventions require aftercare or continuing periodic maintenance after initial implementation. These tasks are predictable and can be written into the implementation plans under their respective objectives. Examples of maintenance tasks include the repair of erosion on freshly graded land and the removal of competitive weeds and vines from around young plantings.
35. Acknowledge the role of passive restoration. Commonly, some but not all aspects of an ecosystem require intentional intervention to accomplish restoration. For example, if a correction to the physical environment is all that would be needed to initiate the recovery of the biota, then the practitioner would limit restoration activities to making that correction. To ensure that all aspects of ecosystem recovery have been considered, the restoration plan should acknowledge those attributes that are expected to develop passively without intervention. In the example, the practitioner would state that no manipulations were needed for the recovery of the biota.
Realize that ecological restoration is an intentional process that involves at least modest intervention on the part of a practitioner. If recovery occurs without any intervention, it should be called natural reestablishment or designated by another term besides ecological restoration.
36. Prepare performance standards and monitoring protocols to measure the attainment of each objective. A performance standard (also called a design criterion or success criterion) is a specific state of ecosystem recovery that indicates or demonstrates that an objective has been attained. For example, if the objective is to reestablish tree cover with a particular species composition and abundance on former cropland (as stated in the example for Guideline #27) and an intervention to realize that objective is to plant tree saplings of particular species at specified densities (as stated in the example for Guideline #34), then a plausible performance standard would be the establishment of a young forest that contained certain species of trees with minimal thresholds for tree species density, tree height, and collective canopy closure within a specified timeframe. Another potential example of performance standards would be the attainment of a threshold percentage of herbaceous vegetative cover in a seeded area within a given timeframe.
Satisfaction of some performance standards can be attained by a single observation—for example, to determine whether a canal has been filled. Other performance standards require a series of monitoring events to document trends towards the attainment of a specified numeric threshold for a physical parameter or for a particular level of plant abundance or growth.
Performance standards require careful selection so as to engender confidence in their power to measure the attainment of an objective. Otherwise, the objectivity of the performance standard may be biased by the initial results of implementation.
Monitoring protocols should be geared specifically to performance standards. Other monitoring generates extraneous information and inflates project costs. Monitoring protocols should be selected that allow data to be gathered with relative ease, thereby reducing monitoring costs. When a monitoring protocol is selected, a procedure for the analysis of monitoring data should be specified. For example, a statistical procedure could be designated—and a confidence interval stipulated—for determining significant differences.
Performance standards are of particular utility in restoration projects that are conducted by contractors or that are required to satisfy permit conditions. The attainment of performance standards represents hard evidence that objectives have been met, that contractors can be paid, and that permit holders can be released from regulatory liability. Conversely, non-attainment demonstrates non-compliance that can lead to enforcement actions and legal sanctions.
In a less technocratic context, the need for inclusion of performance standards in a restoration project diminishes. In smaller, less complex projects, or in projects where time of completion is not an issue, performance standards need not be specified. Instead, an ecological evaluation can be substituted in accord with Guideline #49.
37. Schedule the tasks needed to fulfill each objective. Scheduling can be complex. Some interventions can be accomplished concurrently and others must be done sequentially. Planted nursery stock may have to be contract-grown for months or longer in advance of planting and must be delivered in prime condition. If planting is delayed, planting stocks may become root-bound and worthless. If direct seeding is prescribed, seed collecting sites will have to be identified. The seed must be collected when ripe and possibly stored and pre-treated. Site preparation for terrestrial systems should not be scheduled when conditions are unsuitable. For example, soil manipulations cannot be accomplished if flooding is likely, and prescribed burning must be planned and conducted in accordance with applicable fire codes. The temporary unavailability of labor and equipment can further complicate scheduling. Workdays may have to be shortened for safety during especially hot weather and in lightning storms. Wet weather may cause equipment to become mired. Schedules should reflect these eventualities.
Tasks for most objectives are implemented within a year or two. Some tasks may have to be delayed. For example, the re-introduction of plants and animals that require specialized habitat requirements may have to be postponed several years until habitat conditions become suitable.
38. Obtain equipment, supplies, and biotic resources. Only appropriate items should be procured. For example, machinery should be selected that does not compact the soil inordinately or damage it when making turns. Degradable materials such as organic mulch are generally preferable to persistent ones such as plastic ground covers. Nursery-grown plants should be accepted only in peak condition, and their potting soil should consist of all natural materials. Care should be taken to ensure that regional ecotypes of biotic resources are obtained to increase the chances for genetic fitness and to prevent introduction of poorly adapted ecotypes. However, a wider selection of ecotypes and species may be advantageous in order to pre-adapt the biota at project sites undergoing environmental change. Nurseries sometimes supply superior trees that have been selected for timber quality. These may have to be inter-planted with "inferior" stock to facilitate ecosystem processes other than fiber production. For instance, deformed trees may be valuable for their wildlife cavities. Named cultivars and hybrids are unacceptable other than as temporary cover or nurse crops, because they do not represent natural species or taxa.
39. Prepare a budget for implementation tasks, maintenance events, and contingencies. Budgeting for planned implementation tasks is obvious. However, budgeting for unknown contingencies is equally important. No restoration project has ever been accomplished exactly as it was planned. Restoration is a multivariate undertaking, and it is impossible to account for all eventualities. Examples of contingencies are severe weather events, depredations of deer and other herbivores on a freshly planted site, colonization by invasive species, vandalism, and unanticipated land use activities elsewhere in the landscape that impact the project site. The need to make at least some repairs is a near certainty. Generally, the cost of repair increases in relation to the time it takes to respond after its need is discovered. For these reasons, contingency funds should be budgeted for availability on short notice.
Section 6: Implementation Tasks
Project implementation fulfills implementation plans. If planning was thorough and supervision is adequate, implementation can proceed smoothly and within budget.
40. Mark boundaries and work areas. The project site should be staked or marked conspicuously in the field, so that labor crews know exactly where to work.
41. Install permanent monitoring fixtures. The ends of transect lines, photographic stations, bench marks, and other locations that will be used periodically for monitoring are staked or otherwise marked on-site and, if possible, identified with GPS coordinates. Staff gauges, piezometer wells, or other specified monitoring equipment is installed, marked, and their locations identified with GPS coordinates.
42. Implement restoration tasks. Restoration tasks were identified in Guideline #34, and these are now implemented to fulfill the ecological restoration objectives. The chief practitioner supervises project implementation or delegates supervision to project team members. Responsibility for proper implementation generally should not be entrusted to subcontractors, volunteers, and labors crews who are doing the work. The cost of retrofitting exceeds the cost of appropriate supervision.
Section 7: Post-implementation Tasks
The attainment of objectives may depend as much on aftercare as it does to the care given to the execution of implementation tasks. The importance of post-implementation work cannot be overemphasized.
43. Protect the project site against vandals and herbivory. Security of the project site should be reviewed following project implementation. Vandalism may include youths who use project sites for recreational activities (e.g., camp fires, dirt bike riding). Grazing animals include domestic livestock, feral swine, deer, elephants, geese, nutria and many others. Beaver can destroy a newly planted site by plugging streams and culverts. Nuisance animals may require trapping and relocation or the construction of fenced exclosures.
44. Perform post-implementation maintenance. Conduct any maintenance activities that were described in Guideline #34.
45. Reconnoiter the project site regularly to identify needs for mid-course corrections. The chief practitioner needs to inspect the project site frequently, particularly during the first year or two following an intervention, to schedule maintenance and to react promptly to contingencies.
46. Perform monitoring as required to document the attainment of performance standards. Monitoring and the reporting of monitoring data are expensive. For that reason, monitoring should not be required until the data will be meaningful for decision-making. Regular reconnaissance (Guideline #45) may negate the need for frequent monitoring. Not all monitoring can be postponed. Some factors, such as water elevations and water quality parameters, are usually measured on a regular schedule to provide interpretable data. Sometimes monitoring is required to document survival of planting stock. A more effective substitute would be to require the replacement of stock that did not survive in lieu of monitoring.
47. Implement adaptive management procedures as needed. Adaptive management as a restoration strategy is highly recommended, if not essential, because what happens in one phase of project work can alter what was planned for the next phase. A restoration plan must contain built-in flexibility to facilitate alternative actions for addressing underperformance relative to objectives. The rationale for initiating adaptive management should be well documented by monitoring data or other observations. The project manager should realize that restoration objectives may never be realized for reasons that lie beyond the control of the chief practitioner. If so, then new goals (Guideline #5) and objectives (Guideline #27) may have to be substituted to ensure the recovery of a functional, intact, and otherwise whole ecosystem.
Section 8: Evaluation and Publicity
Assessments are conducted to ensure the satisfaction of project objectives and goals. The project is publicized for public and technical consumption.
48. Assess monitoring data to determine whether performance standards are met and project objectives are attained. The results of data analysis should be documented in writing. If performance standards are not met within a reasonable period of time, refer to Guideline #47. Guideline #48 is ignored for smaller projects for which no performance standards were specified in Guideline #36.
49. Conduct an ecological evaluation of the newly completed project. This guideline requires satisfaction for those projects for which no performance standards were specified in Guideline #36. The evaluation should compare the restored ecosystem to its condition prior to the initiation of restoration activities (Guideline #20). The evaluation should determine whether or not the ecological goals from Guideline #5 were met, including the ecological attributes of restored ecosystems.
Technical publication is normally the way that an evaluation is presented. To satisfy the requirements of scientific rigor that some journals expect, this evaluation may require more documentation of site conditions than those that are available from monitoring data. For that reason, an ecological investigation is apropos for all completed restoration projects. Some restoration projects are conducted by enduring institutions that have the capacity for follow-up investigations to provide a conservation perspective on the valued ecosystems after they have undergone restoration. To facilitate this possibility, care should be given to use inventory protocols that can be readily repeated for comparative purposes.
50. Determine whether cultural project goals were met. These goals were specified in Guideline #5.
51. Publicize and prepare written accounts of the completed restoration project. All too often, project personnel walk away from a completed project to begin another without stopping to consider the magnitude of their work and its benefits to the public and the environment. Sometimes a final report is required by contract or as a permit condition. Even if it is not, preparation of a final report is warranted to serve as an archival record of the project. The public deserves to be informed of a completed project and the benefits that accrue from it. News releases, media events, and public celebrations are all in order. Popular articles for public consumption can be prepared in non-technical language. Such publicity keeps ecological restoration in the public eye. If policy makers and politicians are aware of successfully completed projects, they will be more inclined to promote and fund new projects. Technical accounts of the project are equally important. Case histories become a treasure trove of information for all restoration practitioners who want to improve their professional proficiency. Case histories can be published in technical journals, trade journals, and posted on internet sites. Papers and posters can be presented at conferences.
[1] A. F. Clewell, Inc., 5351 Gulf Drive #5, Holmes Beach, FL 34217, USA.[email protected]
[2] Program/Project Management Division, California Department of Transportation, P.O. Box 85406, San Diego, CA 92186-5406, USA. [email protected]
[3] Munro Ecological Services, Inc., 900 Old Sumneytown Pike, Harleysville, PA 19438 USA.[email protected]
1133 15th St. NW, Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20005 USA
Tel: 202.299.9518


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"Our economy isn't going to recover until the housing market finds its footing." — Mark Zandi
When considering real estate in Ventura County, certain things come to mind: incredible weather, prime location, picturesque landscapes, captivating sunsets, great beaches, a vibrant downtown and arts community — the quintessence of Southern California living. Life in Ventura is pretty hard to beat.
Coming out of turbulent waters after the housing crash that began in 2007, the country has witnessed 16 million foreclosures, and while there is still some timidity about real estate predictions, positive signs are being seen.
"Whether or not that enthusiasm has merit, the signs of a turnaround are hard to ignore," said Steve Yoder in a recent article in The Fiscal Times. "National home prices have been on the uptick for eight straight months, and jumped 6.3 percent year-over-year in October — the largest increase since June 2006. In California, one of the hardest-hit states, 57 percent of homes for sale have attracted multiple offers this year." Some of these multiple offers include large investment groups making strategic purchases in various cities nationwide.
When opportunity knocks, it's best to jump forward and avail oneself of the auspicious moment. Blackstone Group LP has done precisely that with the purchase of approximately 140 troubled homes in Ventura County since the summer of 2012.
Blackstone Group LP is the largest global private investment-banking group in the world. Based in New York City, it has raised more than $13.5 billion in the real estate sector. The firm also has offices in London, Paris, Dusseldorf, Tokyo, Beijing, Hong Kong, Sydney, Shanghai, Mumbai and Dubai.
In a recent interview on Bloomberg.com, Jonathan Gray, the global head of the Real Estate Group at Blackstone, spoke candidly about the company's real estate purchases. "This is positive for the economy overall. … It's having a powerful sort of psychological effect on the market. … It's good investment strategy."
Part of this strategy involves Blackstone's creating Invitation Homes, a national, institutionally managed, single-family real estate company that owns more than 30,000 homes. With the hope of creating affordable housing, it purchases distressed homes in desirable locations, renovates them and then rents them. It addition to the Ventura County purchases, Blackstone has acquired homes in Phoenix, Orange County, Los Angeles, Orlando, Chicago, Miami, Seattle, Las Vegas, and Charlotte.
According to Gray, U.S. housing wealth is in the trillions, and residential housing is coming back. Gray says, "This is the biggest real estate opportunity in the world. As housing prices start to recover, homeowners will gain confidence and we'll see investors move forward with purchases."
No one wants to see a home sitting vacant for month on end, and with the decline of the real estate market, neighborhoods everywhere have seen this firsthand. It is a negative for a neighborhood and hopefully Blackstone's strategy is making a difference. According to Gray, Blackstone's partnering with Invitation Homes has created thousands of new jobs. With this new capital, homes that were once vacant are now being occupied.
When an individual buyer is looking to purchase a home in today's market, however, everything is not always sunshine and roses.
Sean O' Toole, realtor with Keller Williams Realty, has been selling real estate in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties for nearly a decade.
"Yes, buying a home is definitely a lot of work, especially in this market," he said. "Oftentimes it can be frustrating for a buyer who has to compete with local and/or institutionalized investors, who oftentimes write all-cash offers and for above the listing price."
While it seems that this is the right time to purchase real estate, how does the average homebuyer compete with an investment company like Blackstone?
"Well, it's not always easy," he continued. "First and foremost, having a buyer that is fully qualified with a reputable lender when competing with cash is a must. Strategy comes into play, along with utilizing as many relationships as possible with other local realtors.
"These difficulties are not stopping buyers from getting into the game, and sellers are taking advantage of such historically low inventory. Currently, we're in a goldilocks market — a market where it's a great time to sell, and it's a great time to buy. Short sale and foreclosures are on the decline, and that's a good thing."
Nick Eubank, a firefighter from Oxnard sold and purchased another home in July. Overall, he and his wife Kim had a positive experience, with the exception of the meticulous list they had to submit to the bank when using monies from their checking account as part of the down payment.
"It was weird. I sort of felt policed," Eubank said. "Why did the bank need a detailed list justifying where that money came from? It's like they didn't trust us, like we were drug lords or something. Other than the bank weirdness, we really lucked out. The process went really smooth and we had a great experience."
Paul and Jill Capra recently listed their home in midtown. Once sold, they will be looking to purchase again.
Photo by T. Christian Gapen
Paul Capra, with three-year-old Emelia,
hope to upgrade their home from mid-town
to something on the hillside in Ventura.
"We're really excited that the real estate market has taken a shift, in fact, this is actually what prodded us to sell our house. Our family is expanding, and with the market improving like this, we feel it's time to take the plunge," Jill said.
The Capras bought at the height of the market in 2007, and they are very happy to see that real estate prices are moving up. Capra says, "There's definitely been an improvement in Ventura, and that's going to be helpful to both the buyer and the seller.
According to the multiple listing service (MLS) 2,052 closed residential short sales occurred in 2012. So far this year, only 1,103 short sales have occurred. O'Toole said he expects the number to be around 1,500 by the year's end, which is about 25 percent less than in 2012. The market is not as weighed down with so many would be distressed homes on the market.
With interest rates moving up toward the 5 percent range, we're seeing the crazy bidding wars taper off. We are currently looking at just a little more than 2.1 months of active inventory. O'Toole believes that anything less than six months of inventory defines a seller's market, and that number has been slowly increasing over the last three months.
"Inventory has increased in all six Southern California counties last month," said Ryan Gleason, a broker-consultant at Realtor.com in Westlake. "If inventory increases, it can tilt the pendulum toward a buyer's market, where inventory is high and demand is low. It gives more negotiating power to buyers and applies pressure on the sellers to drop their home prices to stay competitive in the market."
Gleason works with broker/owners and has more than 340 clients. His territory has included more than 16 different states over the last two years. He has noticed the market shifting even in the last six to eight weeks. For example, as little as three months ago, many of his clients did not feel the need to market their inventory because they would have multiple offers on one property as soon as it hit the market. In addition, many buyers were paying more than current market value. Things have started to shift. "I believe we're looking at a more balanced market," Gleason said.
With the normalizing of the market and a steady appreciation, buyers and sellers are more comfortable, and this kind of stability is nice to see after so many years of instability.
There are still, however, a lot of people who are somewhat uneasy about making real estate purchases due to a multitude of factors that create uncertainty, which include the economy, the Fed's monetary policy, and new legislation in the Dodd-Frank Bill, which will become effective Jan. 10, 2014. This new legislation will lower the debt-to-income ratio required to be no more than 43 percent for conventional loans, and 45 percent for VA (Department of Veterans Affairs) or FHA (Federal Housing Administration) loans. This in turn will lower the buying power of the consumer.
What does all this mean for the real estate purchaser?
"In short, this could mean a slowing of the current rapid rate of appreciation," O'Toole said. "If the Fed slows its pace of pumping money into our economy, interest rates will rise. This coupled with Dodd-Frank's new qualified mortgage (QM) rule tightening, means that buyers will qualify for lesser amounts, which will in turn affect real estate prices. The silver lining is the fact that there is still a shortage of inventory keeping prices stable and on the incline, which is prompting more and more sellers to put their homes on the market to take advantage of this.
In 2005, only 3.8 percent of all sales were cash sales in the city of Ventura, but over the last 12 months, according Ventura County Coastal Association of Realtors MLS, cash sales have grown to 25 and 26 percent. Not only have these investor groups like Blackstone been buying homes for cash, oftentimes they outbid other buyers by offering more than the asking price.
"In August the number of foreclosure filings in Ventura County was 46 percent lower than the previous month and 77 percent lower than this time last year," according to RealtyTrac.com. Some investors are concerned with these statistics, particularly those buyers who have made a bundle on flipping distressed homes.
Gray admitted that the firm anticipated that it would take longer for prices to recover, but prices are moving up and other investment groups and the private sector are catching on to the current opportunity with housing prices at record lows. When prices start moving up too much, that will be a sign that the market's too mature. Perhaps we are seeing signs of this already, since Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe IV spent $3.5 billion of its 5 billion euros fund money investing in distressed homes in Europe this year.
As these large and small investment groups slow their pace due to increasing prices and slimmer margins, O'Toole thinks that the frenzy will be on the decline. The average buyer currently has more to choose from, with slightly less investor competition, and when you factor that with still historically low interest rates — now is a great time to buy. Having seen some modest appreciation, it is a good time for the seller as well.
Gleason said he feels positive about the upcoming year with the housing market seeing some degree of stability. "We're going to see a steady climb of inventory," he said.
He also expects sales to remain solid despite rising interest rates after hitting historic lows earlier this year. "Affordability will still be strong if the economy can maintain stability – the desire for home ownership is ingrained in us, but the key to maintaining momentum in the market is job sustainability and grown. Here's the lowdown: If you're a seller, it's a good time to sell. If you're a buyer, it's a good time to buy."
"The higher-end market has not come back as strongly as the lower-end market, which encompasses homes under $500,000," said David Smolen, who has been a realtor in Ventura County since 1981. "In other words, there hasn't been a lot of move-up buying, but now we're starting to see more of this again, making the high end a great value. Hopefully, the inventory will continue to increase to accommodate buyers who are looking to purchase homes."
According to DataQuick, an online information source that tracks real estate nationwide and provides information to potential buyers, title companies and industry analysts, market distress is on the decline. "Foreclosure activity remains well below year-ago and peak levels reached several years ago." Things are definitely looking up. After several years of deflating home prices, the housing market seems to be on the road to recovery.
"Overall, I like what I see; more and more local families are buying their first homes and/or are moving up into larger homes," O'Toole said. In the last two months, he has worked with two young Oxnard firefighters and their families, who listed and sold their homes so they could move up into larger homes in more desirable locations. "It's nice to see these young move-up buyers back in the market. I'm having a lot less conversations with distressed homeowners uncertain of what to do. It's not uncommon for sellers to be surprised to find out that their home's current value is more than they thought. There are positives to each side of the market today, whether you're a buyer or seller.
"When companies like Blackstone choose an area like Ventura County as one of their targets with all their available statistical resources, it really confirms what I feel daily — that Ventura is a great place to buy real estate, and of course, it's an amazing place to live."


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Bill Taylor enters his ninth year as the head men's and women's cross country and track and field coach at Lipscomb University. After being hired one week before the cross country season began in 2007, the program has seen a complete transformation and is now one of the elite programs in the South region, quickly moving into national prominence.
Taylor's women's cross country teams have won four consecutive Atlantic Sun Conference Championships (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014), while the men's cross country team won the first Atlantic Sun Championship in school history in 2013 and repeated as A-Sun Champions this year. In 2012 and 2013, the women's team tied the A-Sun record for most women earning All-A-Sun first or second All-Conference honors (six each year). In 2014 the women broke the A-Sun record with seven women earning All-A-Sun honors. The men also put seven on the All-Conference first or second team in 2013 and four more in 2014.
At the 2014 Championships Madi Talbert became the first A-Sun cross country individual champion in Lipscomb history, earning A-Sun Cross Country Runner of the Year honors and leading a 1-2-3 finish for the women (Paige Stoner finished second and Dani Walker finished third).
Paige Stoner earned women's A-Sun Cross Country Freshman of the Year honors in 2014. Last year Lipscomb also had the men's and women's A-Sun Cross Country Freshman of the Year, with Juan Gonzalez earning that honor for the men and Sally Larson earning it for the women. Jared Wingerter earned men's A-Sun Cross Country Freshman of the Year in 2012, and Dani Walker earned the honor in 2010.
As a result of the team's performances at conference in 2014, Taylor was voted A-Sun Coach of the Year for the fourth consecutive time in women's cross country, and the second time in men's cross country. 2013 was the first time in Atlantic Sun Conference history that one coach was voted Coach of the Year for both men and women's cross country in the same season.
At the NCAA I South Regional, the women finished an all-time program best fourth place, just behind Vanderbilt, Florida State and Alabama. The women have finished in the top eight for four consecutive seasons. Madi Talbert led the women with a 16 place All-South-Region performance in 2014.
Hopes are high for the 2015 season, as the women return nine of their top ten runners and add a terrific recruiting class of 11 freshmen and two transfers. The top four returners; Madi Talbert, Paige Stoner, Sally Larson and Barbara Lee Ball, have already run in the 16's for 5000m (16:20, 16:26, 16:27, 16:48). The women will be in the mix for a National Championship qualifying spot.
The men posted their first ever top 10 finish (sixth) in 2013. While the men slipped a little in 2014, they should bounce back very strong in 2015. Led by four excellent returners in Juan Gonzalez, Christian Freeman, Daniel Gardner and Jared Wingerter, the men add 20 newcomers to solve depth issues that were a setback in 2014. The men should be in the mix for a top four finish at South Region.
In 2013 Juan Gonzalez became the first man in Lipscomb history and the second cross country runner in school history (Dani Walker 2012) to earn All-South-Region honors. In 2014 Daniel Gardner became the second man to earn All South Region honors with a 25 place finish.
Academically, the men's and women's programs continue be national leaders. The 2015 women's track & field program led the entire nation at the NCAA Division I level academically, with a 3.74 cumulative team GPA. The men finished fifth in the nation. Both men and women have finished in the top-5 nationally many times in Taylor's eight years at Lipscomb, with the women finishing second two times previously, and the men finishing first in the nation and second in the nation previously.
Individually, five Lipscomb track and field athletes earned National NCAA Division I Academic All-American honors in 2015. Madi Talbert, Paige Stoner, Sally Larson, and Karly Hibbard earned the honor for the women's team. Wayne Newman earned the honor for the men.
Madi Talbert also was named an NCAA Division I Academic All American for the 2014 Cross Country season.
Dani Walker has been NCAA Division I National Academic All-American three times (cross country 2012, track 2012, 2013), and Peabody has earned NCAA Division I National Academic All-American honors twice (track 2012, 2013).
Sally Larson was named A-Sun Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year, picking up the mantle that Tessa Hoefle had carried. Tessa had been named A-Sun Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year the previous three years, the top A-Sun academic award in the sport, the only three years the award has existed. A Lipscomb woman has been voted the top Scholar-Athlete in the A-Sun every year of this award.
Tessa also earned A-Sun Outdoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2013, while Dani Walker took the same honor for indoor track and field in 2013.
Tessa Hoefle, who graduated in 2014, earned a pile of significant awards as she ended her Lipscomb Career. She was named Atlantic Sun Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the whole conference, the highest academic honor in the A-Sun. She was also named CoSIDA Capital One National All-American Academic Honors, the first such honors in program history. Also historic, Tessa and Tucker Peabody earned the men's and women's Byers awards in 2014, the top student-athlete honor at Lipscomb University.
In track, 88 different men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field event records have been set in the last eight years, several of which had stood for over 40 years. All men's and women's cross country records have been broken in the last four years.
In cross country and track and field over the past eight years Lipscomb has had 55 A-Sun Conference Champion honors and 230 All-A-Sun honors.
Dani Walker was named A-Sun Most Outstanding Indoor Track Performer and A-Sun Indoor Track and Field MVP in 2013 after winning the A-Sun Mile, 3000m, 5000m and running a leg of the 4x400m relay. In 2014 Dani was again named Women's A-Sun Indoor Track and Field MVP after winning the 800m, Mile and 3000m, and running legs of the Distance Medley and 4x400m relays.
Tucker Peabody was named A-Sun Most Outstanding Outdoor Track Performer in 2013 after winning the 200m and 4x400m Relay for the second consecutive year, and posting a second in the 100m, and a third in the 4x100m relay.
Madi Talbert earned the same honor in 2015 for the women, after winning the Atlantic Sun 3000m Steeplechase for the third consecutive year, and winning the A-Sun 5000m for the second year in a row.
Tucker also won the A-Sun Indoor 200m in 2014, his third consecutive conference championship in that event.
2015 saw a program record six athletes qualify for the NCAA Division I National Championship Preliminary Round. Madi Talbert qualified for the third consecutive year in the 3000m steeplechase, and qualified for her first time in the 5000m. Freshman Paige Stoner also qualified in both the 3000m steeplechase and the 5000m, while sophomore teammate Sally Larson qualified in the 5000m. Karly Hibbard earned a spot in the javelin. The men were represented by Gemikal Prude, earning his third consecutive trip to National Prelims, and freshman Wayne Newman in the 110m High Hurdles.
In 2014 Lipscomb qualified three athletes to the NCAA Division I National Championship Preliminary Round; Madi Talbert (3000m steeplechase), Gemikal Prude (high jump) and Colin Dempster (400m). In 2013 freshmen Madi Talbert (3000m steeplechase) and Gemikal Prude (high jump) earned their first trips to National Prelims. They were joined by two time qualifier Tucker Peabody, who earned National Prelim spots in the 100m and 200m. Peabody (200m), Walker (5000m) and Kendra Lobley became the first ever Lipscomb athletes in program history to qualify to the National Championship Prelims in 2012.
Talbert became the first track and field athlete in Lipscomb history to advance to the NCAA Division I National Finals, qualifying in the 3000m steeplechase in 2013, earning honorable mention All-American honors. Madi qualified to the NCAA Division I National Finals again in 2014, this time finishing 16 to earn Second Team NCAA Division I All-American Honors. Madi qualified for the NCAA Division I National Championship finals again in 2015 in the 3000m steeplechase with a stellar time of 9:50, earning All-American honors again, finishing 13th in the nation.
Madi's time of 9:50 also made her the first women's qualifier in Lipscomb history to the USATF Senior National Outdoor Track and Field Championships, though she didn't compete so she could focus on her upcoming senior Cross Country season. Her time may qualify her for the 2016 US Olympic Trials. Qualification standards and time period for achieving marks should come out sometime this fall.
In 2014 Gemikal Prude became the first ever Lipscomb athlete to qualify for the NCAA Division I Indoor National Championships, finishing ninth in the nation to earn Second Team NCAA Division I All American Honors. Then Gemikal became the first men's qualifier in Lipscomb history to earn a spot at the NCAA Division I Outdoor National Track and Field Championships, earning Honorable Mention All American honors. In 2015 Gemikal earned a return trip to Eugene, this time earning Second Team All American honors with a 12th place National Championship finish.
Kendra Lobley was voted 2012 A-Sun Outdoor Track Freshman of the Year after winning the A-Sun 3000m Steeplechase and 5000m run.
Lipscomb has shown itself as a power in the women's steeplechase, with at least one athlete earning All-A-Sun honors in each of Taylor's eight years, including the past five individual conference champions in the event (Catherine Beals 2011, Lobley 2012, Talbert 2013, 2014 and 2015). In total, Lipscomb has earned 10 All-A-Sun honors in the 3000m steeplechase since 2008, five have qualified for the NCAA Division I National Championship Preliminary Round and one has qualified for the NCAA Division I National Championship Finals three times.
Since 2009, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's indoor track and field and men's and women's outdoor track and field have all posted their highest ever conference finishes and all six sports have earned their best point finishes.
Walker and Peabody became the first ever Lipscomb athletes to qualify for the USA Junior National Championships, held in Eugene, Ore in 2011. Tucker qualified in the 100m and the 200m. Walker qualified in the 800m, 1500m, 3000m and 5000m. She competed in just the 5000m and off of four weeks of summer base training finished 12th in the nation. Kellie Foley and Minna Fields qualified in the 3000m and 5000m in 2012, though neither were able to compete. In 2013, Talbert qualified for USA Junior Nationals in the 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and 3000m steeplechase. She competed in the 3000m Steeplechase, finishing third in the nation. Gardner, Grant Stromberg and Wingerter joined Talbert as USA Junior Nationals qualifiers in 2013, all three in the 5000m.
In 2015 Paige Stoner qualified for USATF Junior National Championships in the 1500m, 3000m, 3000m steeplechase and 5000m. She competed in the 3000m and the 5000m, earning fourth and fifth place national finishes. Karly Hibbard also qualified and competed for Lipscomb in the javelin.
Peabody became the first ever Lipscomb athlete to qualify for the USA Senior National Track and Field Championships, finishing 21 in the United States at 200m.
At the conference level Lipscomb's men's and women's cross country and track and field teams have been a leader every year academically. They have led the Lipscomb athletic department in GPA, number of 4.0 GPA's, number of All-Conference Academic honors and percentage of All-Conference Academic honors.
For three years, 2014-15, 2013-2014 and 2009-2010 they helped lead Lipscomb to the A-Sun All-Academic Championship trophy, as the best academic athletic department in the Atlantic Sun. In seven out of eight years the men and women have led the A-Sun cross country and track and field programs in academic performance.
Individually, Mike Knox became the first ever Lipscomb track and field athlete to be named to the National Track and Field All-Academic Team in 2010, Carolyn Latham earned District IV CoSIDA All-Academic First team honors, and Ryan Chastain earned District IV CoSIDA All-Academic Second Team honors. Ashley Lehman earned CoSIDA All-Academic Second Team honors in 2012. Maggie Lawrence and Tessa Hoefle earned National CoSIDA Academic honors in 2013. Walker, Lobley and Peabody were named to the National Track and Field All-Academic team in 2012. Walker and Peabody earned National Academic All-American honors again in 2013. In 2014 Tessa Hoefle, Kaitlyn Llewellyn and Tucker Peabody earned CoSIDA All-District Academic honors, while Tessa Hoefle earned the first CoSIDA Capital One National All-American Academic honors in program history.
In 2014 Tessa Hoefle and Tucker Peabody were voted Lipscomb Byers Award winners. The Byers Award is the top athletic honor a student-athlete can receive from Lipscomb. It is based on academic success, athletic success, leadership, community service, spiritual development and character. Ryan Chastain also earned the Byers award in 2010.
2015 saw another Lipscomb track and field standout voted Lipscomb Byers Award winner, with April Terry earning the top Lipscomb Athletics honor.
Outside of the competitive arena and the classroom, Coach Taylor has built a unique culture that emphasizes team environment, total person development and service.
Team environment means that high character is emphasized in recruiting and in being a part of the program. The result has been the strongest team environment in the nation, where the athletes love to be around each other, motivate each other and take care of each other. By having a culture of high character and creating a team family, the Lipscomb athletes have more fun and achieve more in every aspect. The team environment is a large reason for the rapid success the program has achieved, as well as the gigantic personal record rates.
A Total Person Development philosophy of coaching emphasizes academic success, spiritual development and personal growth in addition to high athletic success. This means striving to be the best in the world athletically, while keeping athletics in perspective. It also means that Taylor and his staff believe that athletics are a tool for growth, and that their job is to help their athletes grow in every aspect of their lives.
As a service culture, the cross country and track and field teams are active in the community on a regular basis. Every semester the teams organize and conduct at least two Community Service projects. This has taken many forms, ranging from Habitat for Humanity builds, to Special Olympics help, to storm clean-up, to making sandwiches and handing them out to the homeless, to working with an inner-city youth organization and so many more.
The Lipscomb cross country and track and field teams have also done six mission trips the past five years, and will continue to do a mission trip every year. In 2010 some of the team worked for a week in inner-city Los Angeles with a parachurch organization called the Dream Center, ministering and helping the people in need there. In 2011 much of the team went to Belize to serve. In the summer of 2012 Lipscomb cross country and track sent a mission team to Haiti at the Cap Haitian Children's Home. In the winter of 2012 the team returned to Haiti to serve. In 2013 Lipscomb track served in Jamaica. Finally, in 2014 Lipscomb cross country and track sent more than 20 to the Dominican Republic to serve with a parachurch missions organization there.
The team will return to the Dominican Republic in 2015, where they hope to build an ongoing long term relationship.
Another unique aspect of the Lipscomb cross country and track and field programs comes in the form of Fortune 500 level High Performance Team Building and Leadership Development training. Taylor's wife Tabetha has worked more than 20 years for multi-million/billion dollar Fortune 500 level organizations as a Talent Development Executive and Leadership Coach, building high performance cultures. Her work with the programs gives them a unique skill set that increases the team's success, while providing the Lipscomb athletes with real world skill development that will help them be even more successful in their lives after leaving Lipscomb. These unique skills add to the whole person development philosophy of the program.
"Lipscomb is the perfect place to build the type of program I desire to build" Taylor said. "It's an incredibly strong Christian university, at the NCAA Division I level, with the most unique culture you will find in D-I. The people here are so nice and supportive. I am certain we have the nicest people in the nation at the NCAA Division I level. Best of all, we attract the most amazing student-athletes in the nation.
"We get the highest character kids with great personality. We get the kids that want to grow in every aspect of their lives, and see all the unique things Lipscomb and our program offer than no other school or team offers. I am proud that our athletes have an amazing experience and are better prepared for life after college.
"I also love that we can share our faith and actively grow in that area. We have athletes from all kinds of different backgrounds, and from all across the country. To bring in all these different people, with unique experiences, from different faith experiences, just adds to our total experience. We learn from each other and with each other. That alone is unique and incredible.
"The mission trips are especially impacting I don't know of any other team in the nation that pursues missions work as a team. Serving on a mission trip is a life changing experience. It's incredible. Serving on a mission trip with your team family, the men and women you live with, train with and compete for, takes it to an even higher level. As good as our team is athletically and academically, the team mission trips have been just as incredible and important to our program.
"Athletically people are amazed by how fast we have risen. It could seem unusual to see a team that has such academic success, serves in the community and internationally, and is also one of the top athletic programs in the nation. We just expect it. It's part of our culture and our philosophy.
"Our goals are to build the best men's and women's cross country and track and field program in the nation. As far as we've come, we are just getting started and the future will witness more amazing athletic success and development than we've seen already. In fact, the next two years will see more success than the previous four years combined, and the two years after that will see more than the previous six years.
"We will qualify for the NCAA Division I National Championships in cross country; we continue to move up the national rankings every year, and to get many athletes to Nationals in track and field. We also want to become a strong presence at the national and international levels, developing elite performers at the highest stage.
"We want to win NCAA Division I National Championships. I know it will happen and the team knows this as well.
Prior to Lipscomb, Taylor coached 11 years at the collegiate level, five years at the high school level and two years privately coaching elite runners.
From 1994 to 2004 he created and guided the Northwest University (Kirkland, WA) cross country and track programs to national prominence. In particular, the women's distance program at Northwest rose to an elite level.
His 2002 Women's team won the NAIA National Cross Country Championship and his 2003 team finished second in the nation. From 2000 to 2003 (his final season at Northwest), his women finished in the top seven nationally every year and added two top ten national finishes in indoor track as well.
From 1999 to 2003 his women's cross country teams boasted a 98 percent winning percentage against all competition and an 84 percent winning percentage against NCAA Division I competition.
Along the way his women picked up four consecutive Cascade Conference Championships and two Regional Championships. His peers honored him with 17 Conference, Regional and National Coach of the Year honors.
He also had an incredible 100% personal record rate at Northwest for 5000m. Every athlete that joined the program over the 10 years at Northwest earned a personal record, and the average personal record rate was just about 2-minutes. This type of improvement is rarely seen on such a scale at the collegiate level.
At Lipscomb this trend has continued, with average personal record rates for 5000m well over the 2-minute mark.
"People ask how we get so much improvement from our athletes. There are many reasons. Obviously we know what we are doing as coaches. Our training is sound and effective. I really think the biggest reason though is our focus on a high performance culture and high character. A lot of NCAA I programs have conflict and negative competition. We have just the opposite environment. Our athletes are happy, united, motivating and truly love each other. We have a family, and every single member of the team is a part of that. I just think when you know your teammates love you and you know they want you to succeed, it makes it so much easier to perform, have fun and make big improvements."
In total at Northwest, Taylor coached 52 Athletic All-Americans, 31 Academic All-Americans, 201 National Qualifiers and 53 Cascade Conference Champions at Northwest University.
Kristina Proticova won individual National Championships in the Indoor 3000m and the 3000m Steeplechase and set the Slovakian National Record for the steeplechase while at Northwest.
In the Spring of 2012, Taylor and his 2002 Northwest University NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championship team were inducted into the Northwest University Athletics Hall of Fame.
In 2006-07, Taylor served as an assistant coach with the women's cross country and track programs at Belmont University, helping them regain the Atlantic Sun cross country championship.
A native of the Seattle, Wash., area, Coach Taylor and his family moved to Nashville in 2006. Taylor has a Bachelor's degree from Belmont University and holds USATF Level I and II Coaching certification. When he has time, he enjoys reading, writing, hiking, outdoor sports, marksmanship, fitness, and relieving stress on a set of drums. In the past he served six years as a 19D Cavalry Scout with the Washington Army National Guard, and volunteered for 11 years with Snohomish County Search and Rescue.
Most of all, he enjoys spending time with his family. He and his wife Tabetha have been married for 27 years. They have two daughters, Bella and Ellie and Golden Retriever named Wiley. They reside in Franklin, Tennessee.


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Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Phyllis Sheffer knew hiking the Appalachian Trail would be difficult, but she didnt know how tough until now.
Sheffer and her hiking partner, Terry (Retread) Jackson, started their hike on the Appalachian Trail March 30. The weather was a misty rain and looked like it would clear up later in the day. Both Sheffer and Jackson were excited to start this long-awaited journey.
Sheffers hike is called Mission Incredible and you can follow her journey on her blog hosted by the Moultrie News at www.blog.moultrienews.com/mission-incredible.
There are so many things to learn and get comfortable with. Camping has never been something that I do well, so pitching a tent in the rain, using a privy, stepping out of your tent at 2 a.m. in total darkness and freezing cold to use the restroom have been something that I have had to master, Sheffer said.
The trail is a constant chain of mountains that go straight up and then down, not many level spots. We call them PUDs (pointless ups and downs). I am hoping that when we get to North Carolina we will have switch-backs (trails that run along the side of a mountain).
Sheffer and Jackson have seen so many folks leave the trail, either from injuries or exhaustion. It is so hard; sometimes you just think you cant take another step but you do.
And unfortunately, last week, Jackson had to leave due to injury.
He and Patsy (his wife) are meeting me along the way and hopefully he can section-hike later in the summer. He is a wonderful hiker and everyone misses him, she said.
With each step, Sheffer said, she is getting stronger, especially her legs. You get in shape fast on the trail, she said. We go to the shelters and there are usually 30 other hikers there and everyone puts up their tent, eats and goes to bed by 8 p.m. The sun comes up at 7 a.m. and we get up, eat and hit the trail. I have not worn makeup at all and it is nice to not bother with it. I miss wine and my friends.
Interestingly, Sheffer stopped at a full-service outfitter and hostel called Neel Gap in Georgia. There she met the owner, Logan Seamon, the son of Mount Pleasant residents Kenny and MaryAnn Seamon.
Logan was so helpful when I got to Neel Gap and he gave me pizza. That is a lifesaver for a thru-hiker, she said.
I really love the thru-hikers I have met on the trail. I see lots of former military folks and lots of people hiking for a cause.
Sheffer has now made it to the North Carolina state line. Some people just hiked right by the sign that said NC/GA line. Georgia mountains were tough, but North Carolina mountains go straight up!
There are plenty more stories and photos to come. Follow Sheffer as she hikes the Appalachian Trail at www.blog.moultrienews.com/mission-incredible.
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5 Things we learned on election night
POSTED: 12:44 PM MST Nov 07, 2012 UPDATED: 09:18 AM MDT Oct 30, 2015
Here are 5 things that we learned on Elections Night according to CNN.
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After motivational speaker Anne-Louise Sterry speaks to a group, she always knows if her talk has taken root by what she hears later from the people who hired her.
If people remind each other about what "Aunt Lena'' would say, she said she has touched their hearts and minds.
"Aunt Lena is like a story unto herself," said Sterry, who will speak on April 25 to at the "Women's Night Out'' fundraising event, sponsored by Altoona Regional Health System. The event will be held at The Casino at Lakemont Park.
Article Photos
Courtesy photo
Motivational speaker Anne-Louise Sterry poses as her character, "Aunt Lena."
Sterry -?who is often joined onstage by her husband, Bob - starts off her talk as herself, but soon slips into the character of "Aunt Lena.'' The character is a composite of Sterry's maternal Italian great-aunts, all of whom her father said could be very "flamboyant and exuberant.'' Although Sterry's father was also from Italy, he did not care for the outspokenness of his wife's aunts, she said.
"He always said, 'Don't be like your great-aunts,''' said Sterry.
But it's the "audacious joy'' that Sterry found in her great aunts that she encourages others to seek in themselves, "to be courageous, no matter what is happening in our lives,'' she said.
Fact Box
If you go
What: Women's Night Out, sponsored by Altoona Regional Health System Healthy Living Club, Friends of Altoona Regional and Altoona Regional's Foundation for Life, featuring motivational speaker Anne-Louise Sterry
Where: The Casino at Lakemont Park,?Altoona
When: 5:45 p.m. April 25
Details: $40, which includes dinner and program; to make reservations or for more information, go to www.altoonaregional.org
That's what she centers on in her talks, and she tailors each message to her audience, whether it's a group of women in Altoona, a gathering of corporate executives in California or some other forum overseas.
"There is joy even in times of pain and sorrow,'' said Sterry, who is a former preschool teacher and psychological nurse. She came to public speaking slowly, as an offshoot of her teaching.
Sterry began by playing music and speaking to the children of friends.
"At that time, I wouldn't have thought I'd be speaking to large groups any more than the man in the moon, but it was a gradual process,'' she said.
Altoona Regional scheduled Sterry because hospital officials thought she would fit well with the purpose of the event - to help women get a break from the everyday stress of life for a few hours of entertainment, said hospital community education specialist Sherry Turchetta.
"All of us have trials and tribulations as women,'' she said. "I think she has a nice message that will reach area women.''
This year, proceeds from the event, which usually draws a sell-out crowd of about 500 women, will go toward women's health services at the hospital.
The dinner has been an annual occurrence for about 20 years, Turchetta said, adding that it has become a tradition.
At the dinner, women can buy tickets for $10 for 10 chances on the jewelry raffle, said hospital Foundation for Life development associate Gayle Conner. The raffle winners will be announced at the end of the dinner. All proceeds from the ticket sales will benefit women's health services.
Conner said there are six pieces of jewelry worth about $3,100, donated by Your Jewelry Box in Altoona: three rings, a multi-colored strand of pearls and a watch and necklace set. The big prize is a handcrafted signature blue sapphire ring with diamonds worth $1,600.


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Top Definition
Professionals who work out of Best Buy store; they'll fix your computer in~store or come to your home to fix it.
Dangit, my computer has a virus; now I need to call the Geek Squad to fix it! I know they'll do a good job. They're very knowledgeable.
Starchyldeによって 2016年05月21日(土)
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
New gang fromed at American electronics retailer Best Buy. They dress scrawny FBI agents and drive VW beetles with the GS logo on the side. If you work at Circuit City these thugs will vandalize the store and you.
Customer: Oh my god are you okay?!
Circuit City Employye: Hell no bitch! I just got jacked by these Geek Squad guys. They raped my ass!
Circuit City Employye: Hell no bitch! I just got jacked by these Geek Squad guys. They raped my ass!
Karate Jesusによって 2004年10月26日(火)
A small computer tech store based in Minnesota that was bought by Best Buy. You can now find the Geek Squad in all Best Buy stores. If you wish to find one he or she will be wearing a white shirt, black slacks, and a tie with a Geek Squad Pin on it. With their supreme 1337-ness a Geek Squad agent will be able assist a customer with any computer crisis. Do not attempt to go to circuit city for a computer problem as they are too busy picking eachother's butts.
ohnoes my megahurtz they haev been ST0LED!!1!one! Haxx0rz gotted them!Call teh GEEK SQUAD!
Xx|Phantom|xXによって 2005年04月27日(水)
The laughing stock of businesses in the PC world. Run by a bunch of idiots reading off Microsoft's website. Charging a whooping $90 for a simple harddrive format(no joke). Rivaled by Alienware as the biggest bunch of liars and scammers under the sun who claim to fix any problem but can't tell a graphics card from a sound card. Employees consist of 22-27 year old dropout losers who claim to be smart with PCs but in reality have as much knowledge as a pile of dogshit. Merged with Best Buy recently to become one ultimate corporate fuckstick. If you use Geek Squad you are a fucking idiot who doesn't deserve a PC and sucks major amounts of corporate dick.
Bringing your PC in to Geek Squad is the equivalent of getting your car repaired at a dealership.
See also: Crock of shit, scam, waste of money.
Bringing your PC in to Geek Squad is the equivalent of getting your car repaired at a dealership.
See also: Crock of shit, scam, waste of money.
The very fact that the Geek Squad has been in business all these years really scares me and makes me wonder how many stupid people are actually out in this world.
fuck you assholeによって 2007年05月06日(日)
A group of retarded monkeys that work at best buy thinking they can fix computers but in all reality is screw them up worse then they really are.
Geek squad: Heres your computer mam
Customer: Is if fixed?
Geek Squad: I dont know there wasnt a bannana in it
Customer: WTF?!
Customer: Is if fixed?
Geek Squad: I dont know there wasnt a bannana in it
Customer: WTF?!
Fresh Like Mike jonesによって 2008年03月01日(土)
Geek Squad is the biggest bunch of assclowns under the sun. They think that the are the end-all be-all of anything regarding computers. They think that a week long course in pressing "ctrl+alt+delete" enables them to be elitist losers. Stay away from them at all cost.
My computer was broken, so I sent it to Geek Squad. Now it is a smoldering pile of rubble.
Robbo15によって 2006年01月06日(金)
A group of friends that get together to do coke every night.
Me and the geek squad blasted mad last night.
ohohohohohohohによって 2007年05月03日(木)