Blogs > Dianne Crocker's - Market Maven

What Good Is A $700 Phase I ESA? (19 Comments)

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:59:50 +0000

The issue of low-ball Phase I ESA pricing reared its ugly head this week yet again—twice, actually. The first was during Wednesday’s ASTM E 1527-05 Task Group call. In the midst of discussions about potential revisions to the Phase I ESA standard, a fellow member said he’s got a guy in his area charging $800 Phase Is based on God-knows-what (probably not based on current database reports and file reviews, thorough interviews and a site visit by a qualified EP with good E&O insurance). Even worse is the guy’s “so busy right now he can’t see straight.”

The second was when I stumbled on a post started by an EP in a due diligence group on LinkedIn who asked other members: “How sustainable is the practice of completing Phase I ESAs for $650-$750?” She’s getting offers via email and within hours, they’re taken at “these crazy low prices.” Triggering her post is that she’s finishing two Phase Is now at $700 apiece, and for one, the database report alone is nearly 200 pages long. The situation she describes is this:

A few Phase I clearinghouses have done the marketing and maintain relationships with the huge lenders.
They bid the work and when they win it, they get the database reports, aerials and Sanborns.
They sub to a field person and “throw” the data at them.
The SOW is for the site visit; visits to fire department, building department, etc.; city directories; and then reporting. There are also requirements for submissions at every step and in accordance with a prescribed schedule. Some of the primes even fine the subs for not meeting the deadlines.
The sub opportunities come via email, sometimes a week or two after the award, which essentially leaves only a week or two to do the work.
The RFPs often come in batches (5-10 sites at once)
Bidding’s generally around $700/site
As for liability insurance, the model is that the contractor needs to have it (and can buy it on a project-by-project basis).
AND! often, there is asbestos, lead in water, and lead in paint sampling also required.

She posted her question in frustration because she’s now left to wonder if she would do better working at WalMart or McDonalds on an hourly basis, without the hard work, stress and exposure to liability.

Stop the madness! I did a post last spring on Phase I firms charging $1,200 which at the time seems ridiculously low. Now, not even a year later, we’re having conversations about Phase Is as low at $600. This is depressing, especially since I’m just wrapping up DDU so I can appreciate what an intensive research process a Phase I ESA should be.

There’s an important opportunity coming up that allows Phase I ESA professionals to bring this issue to the forefront. As already posted by several others on commonground, EPA scheduled a "listening session" on the federal All Appropriate Inquiries rule next month. It is open to EVERYONE, and is scheduled for the morning of St. Patricks Day in DC. According to EPA’s notice, “The Agency is interested in hearing if stakeholders and the general public are encountering issues with regard to the implementation of the required standards and practices.”

Issues of poor quality Phase Is and the need for tighter professional qualifications are sure to be a focus. They were certainly hot topics during the original negotiations—and they’re an even bigger issue now that economic factors have brought competition to a fever pitch. If you’ve got an issue in the industry with unqualified individuals doing Phase Is for peanuts, here’s your chance to speak up and be heard. Blogger Larry’s already said he’s coming. Hope to see many of you as well.

Let me know. We can have our first commonground lunch with green beer afterwards. I know a great Irish bar by the train station.

The when/where details are all included here in EPA’s notice. http://epa.gov/brownfields/aai/listening_session.pdf

[NOTE: If you can’t go, you still have the opportunity to weigh in by submitting written comments to: Patricia Overmeyer of EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization,Email: Overmeyer.patricia@epa.gov or by mail at: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,MS 5105T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW,Washington D.C. 20460]

A Shot in the Arm for New Environmental Engineers

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:08:36 +0000

Entry by dcrocker

Some light Friday content for all of you.

Online salary database PayScale.com just released a ranking of the undergraduate degrees with the highest starting median salaries...and (drum roll) environmental engineering made the cut. Not only that, but 7 of the 10 overall are in engineering. Here's the list in descending order by mid-career median salary:

Undergraduate Degree / Starting Median Salary / Mid-Career Median Salary

1. Aerospace Engineering: $59,600 / $109,000
2. Chemical Engineering: $65,700 / $107,000
3. Computer Engineering: $61,700 / $105,000
4. Electrical Engineering: $60,200 / $102,000
5. Economics: $50,200 / $101,000
6. Physics: $51,100 / $98,800
7. Mechanical Engineering: $58,900 / $98,300
8. Computer Science: $56,400 / $97,400
9. Industrial Engineering: $57,100 / $95,000
10. Environmental Engineering: $53,400 / $94,500

The study also concluded that the degree you get is a bigger influencer of pay in most cases than where you get it from.

I'd hate to be graduating from college this May and be out looking for a job in this market. My first job out of college was with a small air quality consulting firm in DC. It was a great start. I was one of the lucky ones!

They also have a similar top 10 earners list of colleges/universities. Check it out. Maybe your alma mater's on there!

And thanks to Bob Dearborn for bringing this news to my attention. These are fun to look at.

DDU: Marketing Liability—Watch What You Promise

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:35:39 +0000

Entry by dcrocker

In my continuing blog series on my Due Diligence University coursework, I just took the module on “Professional Liability,” which covered three types of risks that environmental professionals face: practice risk (think: ethics and standard of care); contractual risk (think: scope of work, indemnities, E&O insurance, limitations on liability, third party reliance…the scary types of liability that you think about every day); and communication risk.

It was the last one that was newer to me, and not something I had heard that much about until now.

The way to avoid “communication risk” is to avoid making “excessive promises or claims of elevated standards of care of guarantees of results.” This applies not just in marketing materials, but also on company Web sites.

In the class forum, our assignment was to write a marketing statement or an indemnity statement that creates liability issues…and we were not limited to the environmental due diligence field (though most stayed there).

I am lucky to be a student among a very funny mix of professionals. Here's a mix of the serious and amusing:

“We assure you that we will control, limit and clean up any and all environmental damages before they can become catastrophes for your company.”
"We guarantee the fastest, most reliable response to your environmental needs. We promise to take care of all your concerns regarding control and clean up of any possible contaminant. We will handle all aspects of environmental concerns before they become disastrous. Don't wait. Call us for the best price in town."
"We will bring your projects on time and under budget, every time. Look to us for ALL your environmental needs!”
"The EP agrees to indemnify, hold harmless and defend the Client against any claims made for any reason by anyone for as long as both shall live."
"With our patented weight loss program, we guarantee you will lose all the weight you want without having to eat all of those healthy foods and without having to spend a minute exercising!"
"At Ricky Bob's Environmental, Inc. we guarantee that we will take care of all your asbestos removal needs at the lowest prices. We will give you a quote and on that same day, provide removal with no liability to you or your occupants. (Fine print: Prices are predetermined by seasonal variability; removal can only be performed on projects less than 10 sq. feet or 50 linear feet on same day quote; and if you or your occupants are present during removal, liability is forfeited.)"
"Consultant will provide all services at the highest level of principles and practices as recognized by all reputable members of the relevant profession practicing."
“KK Environmental: We guarantee the best assessment and remedial action alternative at the lowest cost to the client. If you choose us, then you have chosen the best. Our strategic planning and execution guarantees the best solution at the lowest cost. If ever we fail to give you the best, we will refund your money.”
"Guaranteed Tuna Catch on the charter sportfisherman, Shortfin. We guarantee you will hook up with a Yellow Fin, Big Eye or Bluefin Tuna. We catch fish every trip and have a 100% success rate. Sign up now..no hooks to this claim!"
"We have removed all petroleum-impacted soils.” (actually seen in a remediation report)
"We guarantee the best customer service you've ever had.”
"We will remove contamination to clean levels all over your site!”

How many of you work at firms with formal marketing divisions specifically for Phase I ESA work? My experience has been that it's much more common for Project Managers or Division Heads to shoulder the load of marketing/business development, like attending local shows and calling prospective clients. I do periodically see marketing pieces from Phase I ESA firms, but not very often. If you do marketing pieces on your Phase I capabilities, how much attention is paid to making sure the language is protective and avoids the type of risk exposures I learned about in this week’s coursework?

Ever seen a bold-faced claim like the ones above? What's your favorite?

Week 3 of DDU: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:25:36 +0000

Entry by dcrocker

This is the 3^rd in my continuing blog series on taking commonground’s DDU 101 course. I last left off with my post on site visits, a collection of posts by fellow classmates about drugs, carnage, gambling and lies. Week 3 was a bit more sedate, but very intense.

I've gone from the wading pool right into the deep end, forced way out of my comfort zone as we moved into the really nitty-gritty aspects of doing a Phase I. Just to give you a sense of how green I feel in this course with other technical EPs, I had NO idea what this picture was. (I do now.)

These were hard modules for my non-engineering mind, and my pace was slow. We covered:

user responsibilities,
historical review,
geology/groundwater and
common contaminants.

The user responsibilities module was pretty straightforward and I relied heavily on my time watching EPA’s AAI rule written back in 2004-5. The user should fill out questionnaire, but if they don’t (and my classmates said they usually don’t), the EP needs to document it, and then consider the significance of that missing piece in light of everything else they learn about the property in their research. The big question is: how exactly do you assess the significance of what you don’t know?

The historical review section was a bear. We went through every standard historical source in detail (sources, benefits, pitfalls and what to look for). For someone who doesn’t look at Sanborns and aerials every day, this was tough for me. Our assignment was to share what types of historical sources we’ve used. Google Earth and local libraries are widely used—and some interesting local sources I wouldn’t have thought of. Kudos to the classmate who posted that he goes to the local diner and talks to the oldest waiter/waitress he can find. I loved that one! And, imagine how psyched you’d be if you stumbled on a framed photo of your target property’s historical timeline in the hallway of the building you were doing a site visit on like one of my classmates did?

We also had to do a group project and build a site’s history based on a city directory, topo, 5 aerials and 2 Sanborns. I stared at some of the examples like those “magic eye” images…waiting and hoping something obvious would emerge (it didn’t).

Geology/groundwater. The definition section alone (advection, aquitard, piezometric) was enough to send me running for the hills. Once I overcame my fear of the unknown, it was fun getting into different scenarios and guessing at groundwater flow. Now with confidence I can say, “In consolidated sediments, contaminants are transported in groundwater along preferential pathways or zones of secondary permeability.” As I listened to the course content, what I was really thinking was, “Am I going to be tested on this?” (The answer was yes.) This was the hardest quiz so far. I had to calculate rates of groundwater flow, guess at plume direction in a diagram of a highly permeable aquifer and interpret groundwater elevation data in a Phase I.

Roundly out this taxing Week 3 was the module on common contaminants. Trying to decipher the table of common contaminants in this module brought to mind the chorus of Warren Zevon’s Run Straight Down (how's that for an obscure musical reference?). Another doozy of a quiz, but I got through it, and now know what PAHs are most closely related to, what TPH refers to, and what contaminants may be associated with a release from a warehouse.

My brain was whipped after Week 3, and Week 4 looks even more intense, but this is the halfway point to graduation.

I’ll let you know how I fare in modules on: database reports, non-scope items, data gaps, RECs (gulp), and findings/opinions/conclusions.

GIS Mapping and Urban Planning: The Wow Factor

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:05:06 +0000

Entry by dcrocker

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Any of you with children under the age of 10 might remember a scene in Disney's Finding Nemo when the fish watch the cutting-edge high-tech scanner installed in their aquarium and, in shock and awe, emit a collective impressed "ooooooo!" much like what you hear at 4th of July fireworks displays.

That was my reaction when I read a New York Times blog this morning titled Space: It's Still A Frontier. I love looking at aerial photos so it grabbed my attention right from the first image (see below). The author, Allison Arieff, compiled an impressive group of examples of how far technology has taken us in terms of using GIS tools to revolutionize urban planning--and more specifically, prioritize redevelopment projects in our cities and towns.

She highlights some really interesting studies of underutilized spaces in our urban areas. Mapping technology is evolving quickly, and the applications for land use planning are limitless--and yes, cool. If you love the intersection between maps and data layers, spend a few minutes working your way through the links of her piece. I promise you won't be disappointed. If you are, put Finding Nemo in your Netflix queue. If that doesn't entertain you, nothing will.

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Week 2 of DDU: Drugs, Carnage, Gambling, Bribery and Lies (8 Comments)

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:44:45 +0000

Entry by dcrocker

Sunday night, a few hours before the midnight EST deadline, I finished my second week of the six-week Due Diligence University course. In part due to being on the road at the Environmental Bankers Association meeting last week, I got behind in my one-module-a-day pace and did four modules (file review, municipal offices, site visits and interviews) in one sitting. (I don't recommend this.)

For each module, the process goes something like this: read background material (usually detail on what E 1527 or AAI requires), listen to a pre-recorded presentation from an EP on the in's, out's and pitfalls of each component of Phase I research, take a quick quiz, and then participate in a discussion thread that answers the instructor's questions on a particular topic.

So far, the course has been a really interesting intensive on specific elements of Phase Is--several of which I never really gave much thought to (e.g., what do you do if you show up for a visit to a municipal office and they can't see you for 10 days? Or what do you do if you get to a site visit and find out that what your client told you was 1 building with 5 tenants is really 5 buildings each with 20 tenants?). I like the forums the best. This is where I'm learning the most from other EPs (new ones and veterans alike).

In this week's DDU forums, the assignments were to share our experience in the following:

crazy site visit experience
interesting or challenging time interviewing someone

As I read what my classmates wrote, I was reminded of a commonground thread awhile back where EPs shared their unusual (and in some cases, macabre) site visit stories. I recall creepy posts about dead bodies, skulls, ghosts and another unmentionable that still makes me cringe.

Here are snippets from some of my favorites posted by classmates in DDU last week:

"One of our field scientists had a body guard who carried a baseball bat escort him during one of his site visits in a really rough neighborhood in Detroit."
"I do enjoy site visits. If not for them, there is no way I would have been able to get a first-class tour of a tulip farm, RV manufacturer, fish farm, or former copper mine...not to mention all those former gas stations and dry cleaners."
"I was once at a paper mill with a sign out front notifying everyone of the number of days since someone was hurt or killed."
"Lots of homeless in vacant urban buildings of course, but I am more frightened at some of our rural sites with 'squatters' because our region also has a meth lab problem."
"While conducting the exterior walk, we heard what we thought was a nail gun going off. Minutes later when several police cars arrived, we found out it wasn't a nail gun but a rival gang conducting a 'drive by' on a resident of the property. That effectively ended our site inspection for that day."
"On a Phase I for a telecommunications company putting cell phone antennas on buildings in DC, I had to go on the roof of the US Import/Export bank located within view of the White House. Before I could go up, I had to be cleared with the Secret Service so they knew I wasn't breeching security or endangering the safety of the President. I was told that I had 15 minutes to do my site walk ... I took 10."
"I stumbled into an illegal gambling den in the back room of a barber shop in the Bronx. I just played dumb and pretended like it was totally normal, and got out quickly."
"I had a seller/tenant offer to put a flat screen plasma TV in my truck if I gave the site a clean bill of health."
"I have had lots of challenging interviews with residential property superintendents with limited English. I've had to resort to a form of sign language or Pictionary that consists of pointing and drawing pictures of tanks, barrels and such."

And now for my absolute favorite:

"I had a site contact repeatedly lick and even eat a small piece of pipe insulation in order to "prove" to me that it was not asbestos. Lab results later determined that it was in fact asbestos."

I never realized how scary, life-threatening, creepy Phase I work was until I took this course. Advice classmates gave the rest of us included: Don't go on site visits without pepper spray. Bring a flashlight. For Pete's sake, tell someone where you're going and when you'll be back.

Site visits can be scary. That alone seems to be to be worth charging $2,000 or more. And, this confirms that I could never be a Phase I professional. I'm too chicken, and furthermore, I have a new-found respect for all of you EPs out in the field.

This week in DDU: modules on user responsibilities, historical review (a whopper), geology/groundwater (yikes) and common contaminants.

Why We're Better Off Now Than A Year Ago (8 Comments)

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:59:11 +0000

Entry by dcrocker

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I'm writing this on a plane back from the Environmental Bankers Association's January meeting in San Diego run by the always-charismatic, Jeff Telego. The conference gave me the chance to catch up with some of the leading Phase I environmental consultants and commercial real estate lenders in the country--and I have to say, most were in pretty upbeat moods. (It wasn't the sunny weather, either. Mother Nature delivered a monsoon that brought intense wind, rain and eventually, downed palm trees.)

I was asked to give a presentation on the state of the commercial real estate market and distressed assets, which I titled: Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel? My answer to that question was "Yes, it's just a very long tunnel at this point."

Clearly, commercial real estate is in bad shape and it's going to take years to sort it all out. Yet, here we are on the threshold of 2010 and, for a number of key reasons, I believe the Phase I environmental site assessment market is in better shape now than it was last year at this time. Consider these facts:

Credit is beginning to trickle back into the market. Based on a survey of 150 lenders that I did in early December, one-third expect to do more commercial real estate loan originations this year than last.
The rate of decline in property prices has noticeably slowed since early 2009.
650 new funds were launched last year with more than $80 billion in capital specifically looking for opportunity in commercial real estate.
In November and December, large investors who were quiet six months before came off the sidelines and closed deals.
The CMBS market breathed the first signs of life in almost two years during the last two months of 2009.
More property owners and lenders, feeling increasing pressure to sell, are finally putting properties on the selling block. Until now, the tired phrase "extend and pretend" has been the more widely-adopted strategy in the hopes of a better tomorrow. This is changing, and in this case at least, change is good.
Lenders are moving forces into place to have due diligence conducted on what is expected to be a significant wave of foreclosures.
The economy's no longer hemorrhaging jobs in the six-digit figures every month.

Phase I ESA activity this year will continue to be driven largely by foreclosure work for lenders facing record-high loan defaults, and FDIC-supported work as bank failures climb. Work in these two areas carried the Phase I market in 2009, and compensated for deal flow that was down 67% below 2008 and a staggering 90% below the 2007 high. Will deal flow go up this year, too? I believe it will, but the extent is dependent on all of these factors:

The speed at which lenders put properties up for sale.
The availability of borrowed capital at terms borrowers can accept.
Price discovery. (Right now there are no comparables for buyers, so if you were looking at an office building, say, in San Francisco, you'd have no comparable pricing benchmarks because recent transaction volume is so low.)
A narrowing of the pricing gap between buyers and sellers.
A return of confidence to the market.

Despite all of these moving parts-and how long it'll be before commercial real estate fundamentals improve, I still do feel that the Phase I ESA market is better off now than at the start of 2009. If you don't believe me, look at this graph.

Remember late 2008? Look at the volatility the Phase I ESA market saw right after AIG and Merrill Lynch died, and investors ran for the hills. This was when firms started laying people off by the dozens, and no one was smiling at conferences like they were at EBA this week.

Flat is the "new good," and it feels pretty good compared to the negative volatility we saw at the end of 2008.

And I'm not the only one who thinks so. Among the people I talked to at EBA, there seemed to be a sense of relief that 2009 is over, and some very cautious optimism for 2010. They came from all parts of the country, and most reported an overall thawing in demand for their services as the market emerges from the freefall of last year. (And as Mike Kulka pointed out, more awareness about environmental risk on the part of community lenders.) Let's hope it continues. And, as I prepare a webinar for next week, I'd love to hear whether any consultants out there agree with what I heard at EBA this week. How do you feel about the market as we head into 2010? Better or worse than last year at this time?

Dianne

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Surviving Week 1 of DDU

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:02:09 +0000

Entry by dcrocker

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I'm at the end of week 1 of the 6-week Due Diligence University course. I've tackled 5 of the 26 modules:

history of due diligence
drivers, tools and users
commercial real estate 101
standards
communication

Having never taken an online course before, it's been interesting to navigate my way through. You get one week to go into each module, read the content, answer a forum question (much like the discussion threads here on commonground) and then take a quiz. Grading is instantaneous and you can take the same quiz as many as 4 times (haven't needed to exercise this yet). I'm in with about 40 other students, ranging from a few colleagues of mine, EPs just starting out, others who've done Phase Is for a few years to veterans and a lender who've been involved in due diligence for decades. It's a pretty diverse group but some similar interests too. Outside of work, we run, garden, cook, raise kids (or in one case, will start doing this in about 2 wks), go fly fishing and myriad other things.

The biggest challenge of course is squirreling away an hour of uninterrupted time per day to tackle a module so I don't fall behind.

Here's an example of the things DDU forced me to furrow my brow over this week:

- thinking of an example when a standard (like E 1527-05) impacted my life outside of work (buying a toddler car seat)

- calculating an LTV ratio on a commercial real estate loan

- placing due diligence appropriately into the timeframe of a real estate transaction (is it before or after purchase and sale agreement? is it different for equity vs. debt financed transactions?)

- deciding whether you get more out of an in person communication or an email (you have to pick ONE)

Tough stuff, but I made it.

Next week, I subject myself to modules on:

file review
municipal offices
site visit
interviews

Since my due diligence experience is limited to a few site visits, I'm more than a little concerned about how I'll fare against the experienced EPs in the class. If I need a life line, I'll let you know.

More to come...

Keywords

Due Diligence University

Prepping for EBA in San Diego. Who's Going? (2 Comments)

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:19:48 +0000

Entry by dcrocker

Entry

I'm speaking next Tuesday at the Environmental Bankers Association meeting San Diego on the State of the Real Estate Market and Due Diligence for Distressed Assets.

Anyone attending?

And if any EPs out there want to share their experiences this past year conducting due diligence for lender clients, I'm ALL EARS. Topics I'm weaving into my comments include:

the "elephant in the room"...intense price pressure (thx to all of you who weighed in on commonground discussions on the topic)
trends in banks' environmental polices (and the regulatory forces driving those changes)
what's driving demand from lenders for environmental due diligence

There will also be some good sessions out there on workouts, foreclosures, sustainable development, banker/consultant relationships, green building carbon risk and brownfields.

I'll report back when I learn out there, but welcome any input as I pull my slides together this week.

Also side note: As of yesterday, and for the next 6 weeks, I'm carving out time to be a student again (after more years than I care to admit). It feels right to start the new year sharpening my sword as a student of DDU with about 40 EPs of varying levels of expertise. This week, I'll be studying (and, gulp, being tested on) these topics:

history of due diligence
drivers, tools and users
commercial real estate 101
standards
communication

Wish me luck!

Keywords

Environmental Bankers Association, DDU, lenders, pricing

An Unexpected Surprise at the Office Holiday Party (7 Comments)

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:24:18 +0000

Entry by dcrocker

Entry

I've been with my present employer for 11 years, and prior to that, with a DC environmental consulting firm. In that time, I can honestly say that I've never gotten choked up at an office holiday party.

Until now.

Last night our CEO was announcing the winners of our "Superlative Awards" to employees who received the most votes from all of us in a variety of categories. With each name called, the honored employee dutifully went up, took their Oscar-like trophy, shook hands with the CEO and sat down.

Things changed when the "Most Likely to Help a Colleague" award was announced. The recipient, an account executive named Noel Roman, shocked us all when he wrapped his 6 foot-plus frame around our CEO to embrace him enthusiastically with both arms. Noel said a few kind words and sat down.

It was when Noel's name was called for a second award that he brought the room to a standstill. This was the big one, the final one of the evening...our company's "MVP."

Noel repeated the hug, and then paused in front of us. He looked at the ceiling for what seemed like a long while. The room fell silent. The side conversations stopped. We all looked at him expectantly. Then he looked back at all of us and spoke in a voice that was ever-so-slightly cracking with emotion.

What he said went something like this:

"We all come to work together to the same place for the same reason. It's all of us together, working to strengthen the company together. So, I feel like I am accepting this award for everyone here."

In one fell swoop, he changed the tone of the whole event. He was honored. He was humbled. And, best of all, he reminded us all why we do what we do every day.

Noel is one of those unique individuals who brings enthusiasm to his work every single day. But it goes way beyond that. He was the only one to offer help to one of my colleagues as she struggled moving heavy boxes a few months ago. He was among the first to volunteer his time to take the 6-week Due Diligence University Course in October because he knew that it would help him do his job even better. Last year he was among a small group specially selected by an executive committee to participate in the company's first internal mentoring program. A few years back, a team of us trained for the New Haven Labor Day 20K road race, and even though he didn't feel adequately trained by the time race day arrived, he had committed to it, drove an hour at 7am, showed up with his characteristically upbeat smile, and completed a tough race. He's always there with a pleasant attitude, always interested in more than just "how's it going?"

These attributes are not ones that are learned in company training. They're inherent and unfortunately, all too rare.

Last night, Noel raised the camaraderie quotient of our holiday party ten-fold. I thought about what he said during my entire 40-minute drive home. It felt particularly meaningful coming at the end of a pretty tough year in an industry heavy with uncertainty about the present--and anxiety about next year. As someone else said, "I haven't felt a warm feeling like that in a long time." Nor have I.

I hope all of you have a "Noel" in your midst. If not, I hope you get one.

Happy holidays