The 4th Annual Un-Company Picnic held on Friday, 31 May 2013 was attended by 38 people – three more than participated in the 3rd Annual Un-Company picnic on Friday, 25 May 2012. These picnics were at Preston Park Meadow Pavilion in Plano, Texas. Those who landed described their new positions. Lee Brucker read a very short list of job fairs and workshops. Everybody recited their 30-second introduction. Paulette Wagner and Bobby Wrenn played a game of Cribbage. The wind blew a few things around, but otherwise attendees enjoyed the fellowship and food. The North Dallas / Plano Career Focus Group, Jeff Morris, organize these picnics. Advance registration for $5 or at the picnic for $6 got two all beef hot dogs, a bag of chips, two drinks, and a large cookie. Funds not used for the picnics are donated to CareerDFW. Potato salad, fruit, and other items were brought and shared by some participants. Photographs taken at the 4th Annual Un-Company Picnic follow. 

Abby Kohut will speak at Career Jump-Start on Tuesday, 28 May 2013 beginning at 6:20 PM and ending about 8:00 PM. The program title is “Maximizing Your Position Using Social Media.”  Read about her speaking tour at http://abbyacrossamerica.com/. The website http://www.absolutelyabby.com/ provides general information about Abby. Her LinkedIn profile is at http://www.linkedin.com/in/abbykohut, and this profile indicates that she is a LION (LinkedIn Open Networker – a person who accepts most if not all invitations to connect on LinkedIn).  She has spoken to other career networking groups in the vicinity of Dallas, Richardson, Plano, and Carrolton, Texas.

Career Jump-Start meets at First United Methodist Church, 503 N. Central Expressway in Richardson, Texas. When attending Career Jump-Start look for the sign below and enter the church through the entrance nearest this sign. 

Information about Career Jump-Start and First United Methodist Church of Richardson, Texas is available at http://www.fumcr.com/pages/caring_career. Meeting notices, job leads, and general career change information for Career Jump-Start participants are available in the Yahoo! Group named CJS-HPUMC at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CJS-HPUMC/. Career Jump-Start participants also exchange information through the online LinkedIn group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2526987&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr. Have you noticed how friendships improve and things are more relaxed when people share a meal? Pizza served at the Career Jump-Start meetings eliminates the need to eat supper before or after these meetings. 

Naofal Al-Dhahir, Electrical Engineering Professor, University of Texas at Dallas, delivered an informative and educational program at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – Communications and Vehicular Technologies Societies luncheon on Tuesday, 21 May 2013. The title of this presentation was "Advanced DSP for Broadband Communications: From Dirty RF to Sparsity Constraints." He began with an overview of UT Dallas, the EE Department, and his research group at UT Dallas followed by a case study of the 4G cellular LTE uplink and a discussion of two applications of the recent compressive sensing theory in broadband communications applications. This presentation was attended by 17 people. This luncheon was held at the Holiday Inn of Richardson, Texas in the Terrace Room. This was the last of the 2012-2013 Technical Luncheon Programs. The 2013-2014 Technical Luncheon Programs will follow a summer recess. Photographs of this luncheon program follow. 

I attended the Succeed on Purpose® – Find Your Purpose! workshop on Saturday, 18 May 2013 held in a conference room of a high rise office building in Las Colinas, Texas. The energetic and lively Terri Maxwell led this workshop with the help of three assistants. There were 12 participants in this workshop. Participants learned how passion and strength comprise purpose. We practiced identifying doors to knock on and learned the three Career Personas™: builder, solver, and doer. Fears that block us from doing what our soul longs to do were discussed. Five participants acted out how desire, belief, purposeful expectations, action, and results interact. Lunch was included in the workshop; each person selected a box lunch prepared by Jason’s Deli. I was fortunate to win a seat in this workshop when Terri Maxwell spoke to Career Jump-Start at First United Methodist Church of Richardson, Texas.

The Seven Loaves Food Pantry served 47 families on Thursday, 09 May 2013. Each family received fresh new or red potatoes, selections from the personal shopping table, fresh eggs, frozen meats, peanut butter, and a number one and a number two bag for each family member. Number one bags contain canned protein and canned fruit. Number two bags contain canned vegetables or soups, dried beans, and rice or grain.

Food distributed by the Seven Loaves Food Pantry comes from the North Texas Food Bank, food collections conducted by various companies, and donations delivered to St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas. Canned proteins are currently in short supply at the Seven Loaves Food Pantry. Canned proteins include tuna, chicken, salmon, ham, etc. If you want to donate food items to Seven Loaves Food Pantry, please consider donating canned proteins. Cash donations enable the pantry to purchase food from the North Texas Food Bank at prices significantly lower than neighborhood retail grocery stores.

All donations are greatly appreciated and help people in need of good nutritional foods who cannot afford to purchase these foods. Unusual items are sometimes donated. These are placed on the personal shopping table for clients who want these items that do not fit the normal pantry distribution. All donated items are checked for safe to use date codes and counted. Two unusual items checked in on Thursday, 09 May 2013 are Turkey Bath Brine Concentrate and Haldiram’s Gulab Jamun; there was only one of each. Turkey Bath Brine Concentrate is like a marinade but faster and more effective at tenderizing and seasoning meat. Gulab Jamun is a classic Indian dessert, for all occasions including festivals or major celebrations, of soft cottage cheese dumplings with cardamom flavored sugar syrup.