Archive for May, 2007

Stock Watch — 05/31/2007

As I sit back and watch Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) and Star Gas Partners (NYSE: SGU) surpass my “greed meter” at 21.06% and 22.76% returns, respectively, I can’t help but notice the few stocks that remain flat. With the first day of summer approaching (June 21st), we may take advantage of some last minute spring cleaning. For now, each of these stocks looks good enough to hold on to through the 2nd quarter. The chart below shows gains as of today’s close versus those of the last Stock Watch report.

Symbol	Last Trade*	Shares	Price Paid	Gain (thru 05/21)	Gain (thru 05/31)
AGII	$33.13	100	$33.12	2.36%	0.03%
COH	$51.36	100	$51.40	-5.49%	-0.08%
DEO	$85.39	100	$78.37	7.23%	8.96%
DOW	$45.38	100	$40.02	14.74%	13.39%
FMS	$49.09	100	$50.01	-1.74%	-1.84%
GPX	$10.66	100	$9.38	8.21%	13.65%
KCI	$50.18	100	$46.90	4.84%	6.99%
MOT	$18.19	100	$18.16	4.07%	0.17%
Q	$10.29	100	$8.50	17.76%	21.06%
SGU	$4.80	100	$3.91	20.20%	22.76%
SIFY	$8.55	100	$8.41	0.36%	1.66%
SIX	$6.19	100	$5.97	2.01%	3.09%
YHOO	$28.70	100	$26.87	9.23%	6.81%

*Price as of market close on 05/31/2007. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

A Qwest For Success
Nevermind that Qwest Communications is up 21.06%, it still has room to go higher. Today it announced that it was one of five telecoms to win a piece of a government contract worth up to $20 billion just weeks after it was one of only 3 telecoms awarded the largest such contract for $48 billion. If the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has faith in this company to deliver its services effectively, then so should you. The company continues to improve the strength of its balance sheet, and it is now making money on the bottom line…for the fifth straight quarter to be exact. Some analysts also believe Qwest is a very strong candidate to be acquired.

Fresenius Remains Strong and Healthy
Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE: FMS) reported its 1st quarter 2007 financial results earlier this month. Keep in mind that the operations of Renal Care Group are included in the Company’s consolidated statements of income and cash flows from April 1, 2006. However, Net Income increased by $160 million, or 38%, and North American revenue increased by 37% to $1,637 million, $1,483 million of which came from Dialysis Services. The company had planned a May 15th announcement of a 1:3 stock split…and it was approved. In addition, Fresenius shareholders unanimously approved a 15% increase in dividends, the 14th consecutive increase. At this point, you may consider waiting until the split occurs to get into this one. The split should take place sometime during the 3rd quarter.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Stompale Spurs! Rob G Reppin My Block Remix

It seems every year, someone remixes a popular rap song to include the Spurs and their quest for the championship. Well, although the Spurs collective effort tonight resulted in a Western Conference Finals Championship, they still have to face either a tough Detroit Pistons team or a young and eager Cleveland Cavaliers team to get its 4th ring in 8 years. Anyway, this year’s song is Reppin’ My Block by Rob G…and the remix is actually done by the original artist instead of some guy in his makeshift garage studio.

Reppin My Block — Spurs remix by Rob G. (Right click, Save Target As to download)

Popularity: 9% [?]

Spurs Collective Effort Too Much For The Jazz

The ugliest productive player. Chris Birck/Getty Images

The Spurs have benefitted from the big play of its big man from Argentina, Fabricio Oberto. In this series against the Jazz, he’s averaging 11.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, and is shooting 72.0% from the field…and Coach Popovich thinks “he’s the ugliest productive player I’ve ever been around”. I couldn’t agree more. But if the Spurs want to win tonight, Manu the “X-Factor” Ginobili will have to come through with another big game performance.

The Jazz will make every attempt to quell its frustrations after dropping its first home game in the playoffs to the Spurs since…awhile. Apparently the injured foot of Deron Williams has left him questionable for tonight’s matchup. But NBA fans have quickly discovered what Jazz fans knew all along: this guy is no sloutch, and he can play some basketball. And Derek Fisher is back in New York as his daughter has yet another surgery on her eye. Speaking of x-factors…emotion runs through that man’s veins to his advantage. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Fish, but we still want to beat your team.

GO SPURS!!!

Popularity: 4% [?]

First Look at Microsoft’s Milan Surface Computer

Early this morning, I read a post by Jon Fortt at the Business 2.0 Blog, The Utility Belt, about Microsoft’s surface computer originally codenamed “Milan”. The Microsoft Surface as it is now referred to is meant to give certain businesses, such as restaurants, hotels, and other retailers an interactive marketing tool. Although the concept is really cool, Jon poses some excellent concerns with regard to practicality and maintenance of the Microsoft Surface.

The surface computer features some key attributes:

• Direct interaction. Users can actually “grab” digital information with their hands, interacting with content by touch and gesture, without the use of a mouse or keyboard.
• Multi-touch. Surface computing recognizes many points of contact simultaneously, not just from one finger like a typical touch-screen, but up to dozens of items at once.
• Multi-user. The horizontal form factor makes it easy for several people to gather around surface computers together, providing a collaborative, face-to-face computing experience.
• Object recognition. Users can place physical objects on the surface to trigger different types of digital responses, including the transfer of digital content.

In the following video, Pete Thompson, general manager of Microsoft Surface Computing, demonstrates how the Microsoft Surface is useful for viewing photos and how the computer might be functional in a retail setting…using a T-Mobile store as an example.

For more information on Microsoft’s latest technology, check out this article on PRNewswire. The story also includes more information regarding which retailers are already slated to use the Microsoft Surface.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Father’s Day Wishlist: Golfing In Myrtle Beach

Aberdeen Country Club. Slear Shotz/Brandon Advertising.

Nevermind that my golf game needs a little fine tuning or that sometimes I pose for golfing photos. Myrtle Beach has always been on my list of places to visit…with my golf clubs. The Myrtle Beach golf community features 5 of the best courses in South Carolina according to Golf Digest.

CoastalGolfaway.com offers the best in coastal Myrtle Beach golf vacation packages, tee times and accommodations. And they’ve been doing it since 1986. CoastalGolfaway makes it easy to select a customized package (in all price ranges) from the more than 110 golf courses in the 60-mile stretch of coast between Calabash, NC and Georgetown, SC known as the Grand Strand. Myrtle Beach is the largest city in the area…and right in the middle.

Coastalgolfaway.com has access to a handful of courses and accomodations along the Grand Strand.

CoastalGolfaway also arranges specials based on various themes and locations. These specials include accomodations, green fees, carts, and meals at extremely reasonable prices. Visit the site and see for yourself.

This is a Sponsored Post.

Popularity: 4% [?]

You Comment, I Follow. So What Are You Waiting For?

Many of you have seen this logo floating around various blogs lately. It was created by Randa Clay. She’s a designer and marketing consultant, and she created the logo to show her participation in the dofollow movement. Like Randa, and a handful of other bloggers, I’ve decided to remove the rel=”nofollow” attribute from my comments…with a tiny catch.

I looked into a few WordPress plugins that removes the nofollow. I chose the Share The Link Love plugin by Andrew Timberlake. Once a commenter has commented at least 10 times (this is configurable), the nofollow attribute is removed. For all newer commenters, the nofollow remains. The point is to reward regular commenters. Comment history is based on your email address and not domain or URL, so it allows a commenter to take advantage of link marketing tactics. I would just turn it off altogether, but I hesitated a bit as it is…and I’m hoping the “goal” of 10 will incent readers to comment.

Other NoFollow WordPress Plugins
The dofollow plugin is straight to the point: you just activate it and it works. Nofollows are removed from comments and trackbacks…period.

The Case-By-Case nofollow plugin offers a little more control. It allows you to select which comments DO NOT get the nofollow attribute. In other words, the plugin turns nofollow off throughout the entire blog; however, when you come across a comment that you do not think deserves to be followed, simply add ‘/dontfollow’ to the link in the comment. The intent was to eliminate following spamments from getting link love. That’s why I use Akismet.

Don’t use WordPress? Well Saman over at Samanathon.com chose to remove nofollow from his blog as well. He also included some links for removing nofollow from Movable Type, Typepad, and Blogger users.

Speaking of Spam
Many WordPress bloggers have been updating to Version 2.2. During the upgrade process, spammers may use this vulnerability as an opportunity to squeeze a few spamments in to your blog. Lorelle VanFossen shows us how to recheck your comment list for comment spam after a successful WordPress update.

Popularity: 68% [?]

Another One Bites The Dust

Ok, that was a little harsh. Last night, my one of my best friends got married. Chris and Carolina had a beautiful wedding. It was held at the beautiful St. Mary’s Church in downtown San Antonio.

“You know how to get to the Krazy Kat Ballroom?”

Chris and I had been great friends throughout high school; however, our life’s journeys had taken different roads. But we’ve always managed to keep in touch, although probably not as often as we wanted. In a sincere and heartfelt letter, Chris asked me to be one of his groomsmen. I accepted without hesitation.

The rehearsal dinner was a blast. I got to see guys from high school that I hadn’t seen in ages. I was happy to make a great first impression on some of my friends’ wives and fiancees as well. (Sorry, Amy).

The wedding itself went flawlessly. No one fainted or threw up or anything YouTube-worthy. It was perfect by all wedding standards…it was exactly how Chris and Carolina wanted it to be. Carolina was beautiful; her procession was beautifully harmonized by an orchestra. Chris…well, you already saw his shoes. And the priest, Father Houlihan, was an Irish guy that kept us entertained throughout the entire process. During the homily, Fr. Houlihan reiterated the importance of family and friends in our lives…and went on to declare that without family and friends, he’d probably be a raging exotic. So…um…that’s cool. Point made.

Never let em see you sweat. It’s over. Let’s drink.

My friend, Bryan, was the best man. If there’s one thing about Bryan, it’s that he always comes through…when you really, really, really need him to. I mean really. This was obviously one of those times. And although he wrote his toast down on a bev nap about an hour before the speech, he delivered one of the best toasts I’ve heard in any wedding. He started off with an update on the Spurs game (which we lost), he made us laugh, he made us cry, and then I got a stomach ache. But that was probably the result of eating too much candy from the candy bar. Kudos, Bryan!

Contrary to the traditional toast with champagne, we toasted in shot glasses with tequila. It was definitely different…and memorable since I walked away with a shot glass.

At the end of the evening, Chris and Carolina left us via horse and carriage to mariachis…and a bunch of drunken gritos and cheers.

Best of luck to Chris and Carolina! As the bride’s maid said, no other two people deserve each other more. Thank you for including me in your family. And I look forward to sharing in your life’s experiences. I love you guys!

Popularity: 4% [?]

BlogRoll

• Milk Was A Bad Choice
• CrackBerry.com
• Stock Trading 101
• For The Love Of Sports
• Project Spurs
• Busted Coverage
• WallStreetFighter

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