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. 

About 30 people attended the class titled “Stock Picking 101” at the Richardson Public Library on Tuesday, 26 February 2013. Ryan Wood and Norman Tang of Crown Capital Management LLC taught this class. Ryan Wood is a Portfolio Manager, and Norman Tang is a Research Analyst.

“Buy stocks that go up. If they don’t go up don’t buy them.” Will Rogers

There are three types of analysis: technical, quantitative, and fundamental. Quantitative analysis studies statistical patterns and uses mathematical models. Fundamental analysis looks for financial patterns, earnings, profitability, and P/E, P/S, P/B multiples.

There are three types of investors: value, growth, and blend/GARP. These types of investor are recognized in the Morningstar Style Box™.

Fundamental Scope can be top down or bottom up. Top down starts with global factors, focuses on country specific factors, narrows the field to sector specific factors, and then makes a stock selection. Bottom up starts with stock selection them follows the sequence up to global factors.

Capital Structure – Corporate

Lowest Risk                        Senior Secured Debt
Next Higher Risk               Senior Debt
Next Higher Risk               Subordinated Debt
Next Higher Risk               Hybrids
Highest Risk                        Equity

Key financial statements were described. Income statement places operating section at the top and earnings section at the bottom. Profitability ratios are sales measures. Balance sheet is a statement of financial position at a specific point in time.

There are three liquidity ratios.

Current Ratio
Quick Ratio
Working Capital

There are three solvency ratios.

Debt to Equity
Debt to (Debt + Equity)
Financial Leverage

There are three valuation ratios.

Price to Earnings
Price to Sales
Price to Cash Flow

Price to Earnings ratio is historical because it changes over time.

Warning signs that companies have problems include.

Companies will typically warn that inventory is being increased because they anticipate increased demand.
Channel stuffing makes distributors take more inventory than what they need.
Share repurchases are usually good; they are NOT good when share was repurchase was made to improve earnings per share.
It is best for Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board to be different people.

World Wide Web resources for stock pickers include:

• Trading Economics, 
  
• Edgar, 
  
• YCharts, 
  
• Yahoo! Finance, 
  
• Google Finance, 
  
• Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), and 
  
• EconStats.
  

Value Line® Reports are available in the Richardson Public Library. 

The 50+ Re-Employment Group (sometimes called 50+ Networking Group) met on Monday, 25 February 2013 at Jewish Family Services in Dallas, Texas. Allison Harding led this meeting. There were 17 people who attended this meeting. A few things that job seekers need to remember include:

• Job seekers should avoid limiting themselves to a specific industry. Recognize how experience and skills can transfer to different industries.
• Avoid acronyms and abbreviations in 30-second introductions. 
• Companies are using Skype instead of traveling. 
  

Each person has their own “Comfort Zone.” Each person has a different style. How we adapt ourselves to other people is one of four styles: Compliance, Steady, Dominance, , or Influence.

Compliance person is detailed, needs facts, is analytical, task oriented, doesn’t like chit chat, and fears criticism.

Steady person wants no sudden changes, “hates” confrontation, is a peacekeeper, is consistent, is predictable, and makes no changes in voice or questions.

Dominance person has a strong personality, is competitive, is disorganized, is social, talks a lot, and dislikes details. They fear loss of control because if they lose control they cannot direct activity, discussion, etc.

Influence person is competitive, forceful, and quick decision maker. They are focused on relationships and open to new ideas. 

The Networking Lunch was at Joe’s Pasta & Pizza on Friday, 22 February 2013. This lunch with conversations about job searches was attended by 12 people. Networking Lunches occur at a different location each week as announced on http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CC_NorthDallas/. People arrive about 11:45 AM. 

Three segments of Seven Loaves CommUnity were open on Thursday, 21 February 2013: Seven Loaves Food Pantry, Joseph’s Coat, and Legal Clinic. All these activities were at St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas.

Seven Loaves Food Pantry served 53 families. Each family received fresh oranges, selections from the personal shopping table, fresh eggs, peanut butter, and frozen meats. Each member of each family received one number one bag and one number two bag. Each number one bag contained canned protein and canned fruit. Each number two bag contained canned vegetables, dried black beans, and rice or pasta.

Joseph’s Coat provided gently used clothing to registered food pantry clients. Vouchers for Joseph’s Coat are distributed by Seven Loaves Food Pantry for redemption at Joseph’s Coat.

Legal Clinic volunteers assisted clients with legal issues. Clients should bring appropriate documents for review at the Legal Clinic.

Seven Loaves CommUnity is on the World Wide Web.

• Website at http://www.7loavescommunity.org/home.html 
• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SevenLoaves
• Twitter https://twitter.com/ #7LoavesPlano
  

Donations to Seven Loaves Food Pantry and Joseph’s Coat are always appreciated and accepted at St. Andrew United Methodist Church at 5801 West Plano Parkway in Plano, Texas 75093. Park in the lot off of Mira Vista Boulevard and enter through the doors that face the north. Place donations in rolling baskets in the hallway. Receipts are available in room 134. The food pantry needs canned fruit and canned protein. Canned fruit that is labeled “Lite / No Sugar Added” or “100% Juice” such as pears, peaches, mixed fruit, or oranges are preferred. Canned protein includes chicken, tuna, and salmon.