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Advance Testing mentors

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CAMPBELL HALL - Tajzi Thompson was expecting to spend hours manning a cash register or bagging groceries at a local grocery store this summer.

CAMPBELL HALL - Tajzi Thompson was expecting to spend hours manning a cash register or bagging groceries at a local grocery store this summer.

Instead, the Newburgh Free Academy student is spending eight weeks testing soils and construction materials at Advance Testing.

Thompson was one of eight students selected by teachers and administrators at Newburgh Free Academy and Middletown High School to participate in the company's summer mentorship program.

Thompson, an aspiring underwater welder, was paid $8 an hour for weeks of in-depth training and working side by side with mentors, fulltime Advance Testing employees. This week, the seventh in the program, is the first time the students are working on their own, said James Smith, the president of Advance Testing.

Smith put up close to $50,000 to fund the program because he wants to keep student leaders in New York state, specifically Orange County. He also sees the program as creating skilled workers and ultimately having a larger economic effect on the region.

"If we want to attract businesses to our county and state, we need a workforce," Smith said.

A number of Smith's 130 employees began as interns and summer workers.

Smith last put on the mentorship program in 2004 but it went on a hiatus as the company was growing, Smith said.

Providing transportation to the students is a key piece of the program. Smith has one of his employees pick up and drop off the students at the district high schools. Next summer, he would like to find a different way to ferry the students to his offices. County Executive Edward Diana, who stopped in for the lunch, said he would look into ways to help Smith.

"You go from mentoring, to training to a job, it doesn't get better than that," Diana said of the program.

All of the students who participated in the mentorship program - and were honored with a luncheon Tuesday - were invited to apply for jobs at Advance Testing. They also received $500 scholarships.

Smith's business benefits from the students. Computer whiz Bryan De Las Salas of Middletown, who hopes to be an investment banker, was figuring out how to make it easier for Advance Testing to set up new computers. He was also researching virtual offices.

jdinapoli@th-record.com

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CAMPBELL HALL - Tajzi Thompson was expecting to spend hours manning a cash register or bagging groceries at a local grocery store this summer. CAMPBELL HALL - Tajzi Thompson was expecting to spend hours manning a cash register or bagging groceries at a local grocery store this summer.

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Ryan homes to make a new housing developement

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Ryan Homes of Altamonte Springs said home building will begin in December at Lake Sylvan Cove, a new subdivision in the State Road 46 corridor. Prices will range from $170,000 to $300,00. The minimum living area will be 1,800 square feet, but most houses will average 2,300 square feet.

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Hayward Baker promotions and new hires

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Hayward Baker is North America's Leader in Geotechnical Solutions. We bring six decades of experience in geotechnical design and construction to your project.

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Hayward Baker Expanding

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Hayward Baker is North America's Leader in Geotechnical Solutions. We bring six decades of experience in geotechnical design and construction to your project.

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Elementary School Constructed by Whiting turner

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Confidential data center constructed by Whiting turner

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Kennedy Krieger Institute constructed by Whiting Turner

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Elwha River dam removal.

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ELWHA RIVER - The Elwha watershed is booming with new life, after the world's largest dam removal.

The first concrete went flying in September 2011, and Elwha Dam was out the following March. Glines Canyon Dam upriver tumbled for good in September 2014. Today the river roars through the tight rock canyon once plugged by Elwha Dam, and surges past the bald, rocky hill where the powerhouse stood. The hum of the generators is replaced by the river singing in full voice, shrugging off a century of confinement like it never happened. Nature's resurgence is visible everywhere.

"Big things can happen if people persevere," said Mike McHenry, biologist with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, which got the ball rolling on dam removal when it was still thought a crazy idea. "Back in 1990, you ask somebody in Anywhere, USA, about dam removal," McHenry said, "they would have told you that you were nuts."

Not anymore. Washington, still one of the most hydropower-rich states in the nation, is also today the world's dam-busting pioneer.

PacifiCorp did the math on keeping the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Southwestern Washington and blew it up with one blast on Oct. 28, 2011.

It took an act of Congress in 1992 to finally free the Elwha, taking down the pair of dams that had blocked the 45-mile mountain river for a century.

The big idea in all three cases was to get rid of hydropower dams no longer worth their maintenance and repair. The dams also had no fish passage, as required by modern environmental laws. Dam removal is restoring 70 miles of spawning habitat in the Elwha.

The $325 million Elwha experiment remains the biggest dam removal project ever. With 83 percent of the Elwha watershed permanently protected in Olympic National Park, it offered a unique chance to start over.

It's as if the whole watershed was waiting.

Scientists are amazed at the speed of change under way in the Elwha.

Elk stroll where there used to be reservoirs. Bigger, fatter birds are bearing more young, and moving in to stay. A young forest grows where there was blowing sand in the former reservoir lakebeds. Seeds tumble down the river's coursing current. The big pulse of sediment trapped behind the dams is passed; the river has regained its luminous teal green color, and its channel is stabilizing.

Logs are tumbling and stacking in the river, building complex, braided channels, islands and jams.

And fish are booming back: More than 4,000 chinook spawners were counted above the former Elwha Dam the first season after it came down. Overall, fish populations are the highest in 30 years. And that's before the first progeny of salmon and steelhead going to sea since dam removal come back this year.

The dams blocked not only salmon heading upstream, but logs and root wads headed downstream. Especially behind Glines Canyon Dam, the upper of the two, wood that should have been distributed all throughout the river was stacked and stuck along the shores of Lake Mills. The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe used a helicopter to pick up logs stuck against former lakeshores and pile them in log jams on the former lakebed to help new plantings get a better start. The logs shelter plants from wind, provide shade, accumulate organic matter and help hold moisture in the ground.

New logjams create prime fish real estate

What used to be Lake Aldwell is a now a broad floodplain that the river winds through, carrying logs and gnawing trees from its banks as it goes. These stack up and jam, creating a braided river channel as the river flows around them. Fish hide in the shady cover of the logs and lurk in plunge pools dug by the river pouring over the logs. The river also is creating new side channels fish use for spawning and rearing - a good thing because some of the old side channels filled in with sediment released by dam removal.

Logs become homes

Logs on the banks and former reservoir beds have become islands of biodiversity. The logs create shelter for seeds to sprout, birds to perch and a menagerie of small mammals to hide. The birds bring more seeds and fertilizer; the plants create soil, and the small mammals are bioengineers in their own quiet way. They cache seeds that sprout, leave manure that feeds new ground, and feed the animals that eat them.

The middle river was the realm between Glines Canyon Dam and the Elwha Dam, the lower of the two at 108 feet tall. No ocean-going fish lived here between the two dams for more than a century. Animals that normally fed on those fish were starved for nutrients from salmon. The river lacked the structure of gravel, sediment and big wood that an undammed river would have conveyed from the upper watershed and its banks.

Visiting their winter range: elk

Roosevelt elk are visiting both former lakebeds. Biologists are a little surprised - and relieved - that elk are browsing but not devouring more than 260,000 plantings, including tasty woody shrubs put in the lakebeds as part of a seven-year revegetation plan to crowd out weeds. They seem to particularly fancy Populus balsamifera, the lovely black cottonwood.

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ELWHA RIVER - The Elwha watershed is booming with new life, after the world's largest dam removal. The first concrete went flying in September 2011, and Elwha Dam was out the following March. Glines Canyon Dam upriver tumbled for good in September 2014.

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AGC of America awards Sitka's Blue lake expansion best construction project of 2015

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Barnard Construction Company of Bozeman, Mont. Wins Associated General Contractors of America's Alliant Build America Grand Award and Merit Award for Marvin M. Black Partnering Excellence
Sitka's Blue Lake Expansion Project was the most impressive construction project of 2015, the Associated General Contractors of America announced today. As a result, the project's contractor, Barnard Construction Company was the Alliant Build America Grand Award winner and best Federal and Heavy Renovation project. This project was one of 23 winners to receive an award and one of nine to receive a Merit Award.

"The contractors working on these projects stood out among their peers by demonstrating the finest traits of our industry: skill, dedication, and ingenuity," said Charles Greco, the association's president and chairman of San Antonio-based Linbeck Group. "This is the kind of project that inspires other contractors to push even harder as they work to improve our built environment."

Barnard Construction Company raised the then-145-foot-tall Blue Lake Dam by 83 feet to its maximum geotechnical height and built a 15.9 megawatt powerhouse. Construction was undertaken on a fast-track schedule under the intense scrutiny of a heavily-invested public, reliant on the dam for power and on Blue Lake for drinking water. The team successfully completed construction in difficult conditions including the dam's remote island location in one of the rainiest locations in the U.S. Throughout construction, there were no interruptions to the city's drinking water and the team was mindful of the natural fish barrier just below the dam, using construction methods that allowed salmon to spawn downstream of the dam.

"Celebrating these well-deserved accomplishments promotes continued creativity and excellence among peers and showcases the dedication and inspiration that the construction industry offers," said Peter Arkley, Senior Managing Director, Alliant Insurance Services. "Alliant is proud to be a longtime sponsor of the Build America Awards."

The association also released a new report analyzing the elements that made the winning projects so successful. The report found that contractors are most likely to succeed when they rely on a mix of planning ahead, ensuring safe work environments, performing quality workmanship and overcoming unexpected challenges. The association is distributing the report to its members so other firms can benefit from the lessons these projects and their contractors have to offer.

The Alliant Build America Awards highlight the nation's most significant construction projects. A panel of judges, representing all areas of construction, evaluated an impressive number of submissions this year, assessing each project's complexity, use of innovative construction techniques and client satisfaction, among other criteria. The awards, which were announced during the association's annual convention in San Antonio, are considered by many to be the most prestigious recognition of construction accomplishments in the U.S.

View all the Alliant Build America Award winners. View pictures of Build America winners.

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SITKA'S BLUE LAKE EXPANSION PROJECT WINS GRAND AWARD FOR BEST CONSTRUCTION PROJECT OF 2015, 22 OTHERS WIN ALLIANT BUILD AMERICA AWARDS

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Barnard Construction Company of Bozeman, Mont. Wins Associated General Contractors of America's Alliant Build America Grand Award and Merit Award for Marvin M. Black Partnering Excellence Sitka's Blue Lake Expansion Project was the most impressive construction project of 2015, the Associated General Contractors of America announced today.

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Landco Construction Article guaranteeing quality and satisfaction.

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Landco

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Interior Construction, Contracting, Construction Mgmt - LANDCO Construction

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LANDCO Construction provides interior construction, general contracting and construction management services, specializing in commercial, healthcare, institutional, corporate facilities and tenant improvements in St. Louis, Missouri. LANDCO was awarded the ASA Contractor of the Year Award in 2017.

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Ryan Homes

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Buy New Construction Homes for Sale - Ryan Homes

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Buy new-construction homes from Ryan Homes, one of America's most well-respected homebuilders.

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Advance Testing

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WTC Tower One

Advance Testing has provided a variety of construction support services for the Port Authority of NY & NJ during the rebuilding of WTC Tower One, including document control support, concrete and reinforcing steel inspection, and structural steel, weld and bolt inspections.

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Advance Testing - Construction Materials Testing

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Advance Testing has provided a variety of construction support services for the Port Authority of NY & NJ during the rebuilding of WTC Tower One, including document control support, concrete and reinforcing steel inspection, and structural steel, weld and bolt inspections.

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Recelli Northern

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Riccelli-Northern is an American owned and operated company that is proud to deliver American products on American soil with the help of American workers. Consisting of 50 locations, we provide transportation, mining and material handling throughout the northeast with an acknowledged reputation for premium products and quality service. We supply a wide range of "green" products including ready mix, concrete block, aggregates and blacktop with the ability to haul most materials to any location.

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Riccelli-Northern is an American owned and operated company that is proud to deliver American products on American soil with the help of American workers. Consisting of 50 locations, we provide transportation, mining and material handling throughout the northeast with an acknowledged reputation for premium products and quality service.

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Atlantic Testing Laboratories

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CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF SERVICE

ATL is unique in that we are equipped to provide a comprehensive and diverse range of cross-disciplinary services throughout all phases of a project. Whether during initial planning and design, construction phases, or in support of on-going facilities management, ATL strives to provide quality services in a time-conscious and cost-efficient manner.

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ATL is unique in that we are equipped to provide a comprehensive and diverse range of cross-disciplinary services throughout all phases of a project. Whether during initial planning and design, construction phases, or in support of on-going facilities management, ATL strives to provide quality services in a time-conscious and cost-efficient manner.

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Paragon Environmental Construction

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Paragon Environmental Construction, Inc. (PEC)

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We are a full service Environmental Construction firm offering a wide range of remedial and site development services.

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Hayward Baker

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Hayward Baker is North America's Leader in Geotechnical Solutions. We bring six decades of experience in geotechnical design and construction to your project.

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Turner Construction

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Turner has a culture of innovation and promotes advances in technology, sustainability, lean practices, building information modeling, safety, community involvement, learning and development, and knowledge sharing.

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Barnard construction

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That's what we do at Barnard. Whether we're raising a dam in Alaska, constructing a reservoir in Florida, tunneling under downtown San Francisco, redirecting a river while building a complex hydropower plant in northern Manitoba, or strengthening and improving the integrity of a natural gas pipeline in a Sacramento suburb, our people arrive at our projects with a determination to do the best for their communities and be the best in the industry.

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Whiting Turner.

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Since 1909, the firm has been guided by the principles of integrity, excellence and customer delight in the delivery of construction services.

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Demolition

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OFFICIAL Richborough Power Station Demolition

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Explosive Demolition- 2002 Best Building Implosions

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Video from Jan 2003 Int'l Society of Explosive Engineers (ISEE) conference in Las Vegas. It is one of four such "year end highlight videos" produced by Protec/Implosionworld for the annual conference between 1999 & 2003. Approximately 70 implosions from 2002 are seen through our photographer's unique persective...

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Surveying

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SurvTech Solutions, Land Surveying Animated Video

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http://www.survtechsolutions.com This is an animated video of a land survey from start to finish, it includes setting up the instrument, taking shots, capturing the data, downloading to the computer, drafting, printing, checking, and finally signing & sealing the finished survey. For more information visit www.survtechsolutions.com

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Cranes

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Excavating

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Pouring Concrete

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On April 14, 2012 Keystone Concrete safely pumped and placed over 7400 cubic yards of concrete in less than 10 hours. This massive foundation was a seamless undertaking between D.E. Harvey Builders and the dedicated employees of Keystone. This well thought out plan involved over 100 concrete trucks, over 100 Keystone employees, and zero accidents!

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Welding

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IMPORTANT* Some of the techniques shown here are not the best. I suggest you check the video in the response below to see this demonstration done by a professional welding instructor!

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Electrical

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Framing a Stud wall

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Framing Basics: 3 Simple Tips for Framing a Wall

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Learn a few quick tips to frame any wall perfectly and quickly. Watch the rest of the Building Skill series at http://www.finehomebuilding.com/blog/building-skills. Watch more how-to, tool-review, and design videos: http://www.finehomebuilding.com/videos/

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Concrete Aluminum forms

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Concrete Foundation Construction Using Aluminum Concrete Forms

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Setting Aluminum Forms for Concrete Walls and Foundation

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http://www.wallties.com - Ashlar stone aluminum concrete forms by Wall-Ties & Forms, Inc. For photos of this concrete forms project visit https://picasaweb.google.com/ConcreteForming/AshlarStoneConcreteForms

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CMU laying

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Mason Contractors Association of America

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EZ Concrete, Cement, Cinder Block and Brick Laying using Joint Spacers

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http://www.BlockandBrickSpacer.com A simple device making Concrete, Cinder or Cement Block and Brick Laying easy, fast and foolproof. Building a Block wall demonstration. Do it yourself Masonry. http://www.BlockandBrickSpacer.com

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Welding. Welding always seemed cool and interesting to me even before I learned the basics of welding in high school. Now whenever I get the chance, I try to learn more and do some welding myself.

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Wood studded walls. Framing walls and framing a building always amazed me before I knew how it worked because it was done so quickly. Now I know how it is done and do it with ease.

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Aluminium Forms. Using concrete forms were something I learned how to do at Delhi but until I actually used them at work, I never knew how to use them for different things.

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Installing cabinets. Cabinets weren't really that fun to deal with but, learning how to install them was definitely important and I hope to be able to install them in my own home one day.

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Laminate flooring. this is an adhesive that was put down on the gypcrete before we pieced together the laminate flooring to each apartment. As much as some people dislike doing the work, I enjoyed putting together laminate flooring.

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This is gypcrete. A self-leveling concrete surface. I never got to pour it myself but I though it was interesting because I didn't know it was used for floors until I started working on apartments.

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Radiant pipe. Radiant pipe was what we put down on the floors before the gypcrete was poured. This type of heating cuts the cost of heating a building drastically. I had to install this by stapling it to the floor and connecting it to a manifold with a return and supply.

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This is an electrical box. I chose this picture because when I first started working on apartment buildings with Alberici and Sons, the first thing I had to do was run feeder cables through the building to each apartment.

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This is a Payloader
I enjoy using the equipment of the jobsite because it is a very important aspect to get the job done and for safety.

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This is a JCB forklift. I chose this picture because using the lift was one of my favorite things to do when I was working for Alberici and Sons Construction.