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Steve Stevanovich: Advancing Understanding of Financial Markets

sofree — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:43:50 +0000

The global economic crisis of 2008 has made it patently evident that there exists a dire need for greater understanding of the forces that move the world of financial markets. Steve Stevanovich is a financial mathematical visionary who has long foreseen this need. He has for some time been cognizant that the needed understanding comes not only by studying mathematics, statistics, and economics but by translating the fruit of all this academic study into a product that is practicable in the real world. How to do this? Steve Stevanovich is a firm believer that by getting leading financial researchers of the academe to brainstorm with professionals who operate daily in the financial markets, their interchange will result in superior methods by which to face present challenges as well as those that the future may bring.

With this end in view, Steve Stevanovich has since 2006 initiated seminars and conferences sponsored by the Stevanovich Center where issues such as hedging and portfolio optimization, liquidity, credit risk, volatility, extreme events, and other critical topics are taken up. Participants come from all over the world, and the conferences have been held in different parts of the globe. Steve Stevanovich, by creating a space where academia and marketplace can meet, discuss, share and debate ideas, has contributed greatly in the advancement of our collective understanding of the complex financial forces that affect everyone.

Looking to Hire or Be Hired? Try NES Employment Solutions.

sofree — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:54:37 +0000

It’s well established how the internet has drastically changed the world’s way of doing things. One area where this is evident is the area of finding jobs. During pre-internet days, the hunting ground of job seekers was pretty much limited to whatever local openings they heard of as well as the Help Wanted ads in newspapers. Today, however, a job seeker can search for jobs that are available throughout the breadth and width of the nation.

One company that assists job seekers in finding jobs that are suited to them is Nationwide Employment Solutions, sometimes known as NES Employment Solutions. Using the internet and its extensive network of recruiters and staffing companies, NES is able to connect employers with employees throughout the United States. NES Employment Solutions lists employment positions from large Fortune-ranked corporations as well as small, independently operated businesses. Conversely, small business owners as well as human resource departments of large organizations look to NES for staffing solutions.

Starting out as a small recruiting firm in Houston, Texas, NES Employment Solutions has grown to be a leader in the employment industry. NES presently caters to employers and employees in the following industries: Accounting and Finance, Clerical and Administrative, Customer Service, Medical and Healthcare, Human Resources, IT, Marketing and Advertising, Merchandising, Purchasing and Retail, Sales and Sales Management, and Travel, Hospitality and Restaurants.

Do you know Happiness is Pets?

sofree — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:54:36 +0000

I don’t know where President Obama finally got his Portuguese water dog puppy, but I know that friends from Chicago were recommending he go to this puppy store in Chicagoland called Happiness is Pets. These friends have gotten three of their puppies from this store since it opened in 1987, and they have nothing but good reports about it.

Actually it’s not just one store anymore; there are now six stores throughout Chicagoland, but it continues to be a family-run business. And it’s a business that’s obviously run by dog-lovers. You can tell by the pains they take to ensure that the potential owner and the puppy are a good fit for each other. Their have an expert staff that is knowledgeable about the care and handling needed for each breed and each particular puppy, and who can answer whatever concerns you have when looking for a puppy. Meanwhile, all their stores have an environment that encourages interaction between buyer and puppy so you can get to know beforehand the little creature you’re thinking of taking home.

One of the reasons my friends highly recommend Happiness is Pets is because they say you can be assured that you’re getting well-bred, healthy puppies here. The company deals only with private breeders – some of the pups come from champion bloodlines – and issues a strong health warranty that assures the puppy is up to date with shots and wormings, provides a free veterinary visit within 7 days of purchase, and covers cost of treatment if the puppy gets sick within 14 days of purchase.

Happiness is Pets boasts that fifty percent of their clients are repeat customers. They must be doing something right then.

Who in the World is Gina Penzarella?

sofree — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:36:42 +0000

I was recently in Pennsylvania to attend the wedding of a friend’s daughter. Unfortunately, the airline I took to New York (I had to go there first) misdirected my luggage, and although the airline personnel eventually located it, it wasn’t going to get to me in time for the wedding. While in Easton, my friend brought me to the boutique where her daughter had bought her wedding gown. Although the store was primarily famed for its bridal and prom gowns, my friend insisted that I would be able to find a gown suitable for the wedding and that she’d get me a discount. So off we went to Footlights & Co.

And just as Linda predicted, I found a flattering gown that I know will get a lot more wear now that I’m back home. An added bonus to our boutique jaunt was meeting the lovely proprietor of the shop, Gina Penzarella. Meeting her made me understand what has made her boutique a favorite among debutantes and brides in Easton. It’s not just that her dresses are very stylish and of high quality, but the lady herself is of high caliber. The girls who buy their prom dresses from Footlights are assured that they’re not going to be embarrassed by seeing someone in their school wearing the same dress on prom night because Gina makes sure that only one student from each high school gets a certain style. How’s that for being considerate?

What I particularly admired about Gina Penzarella was her commitment to giving back to her community. Having graduated from Fordham University with a degree in marketing, this young lady uses her successful career in the fashion industry to mount fashion shows to raise money for various charities and causes. Gina’s Catholic upbringing has instilled in her the value of social responsibility, and she supports many Catholic Charities. She’s also an active and committed member of Defenders of Wildlife as well as a supporter of the SPCA of North Hampton County. I thought it was wonderful to meet a young, successful woman who had such a sense of civic and charitable commitment. Gina Penzarella stands as an exemplary model to her contemporaries and to future entrepreneurs.

When I First Heard about Epsilon Investment Management

sofree — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:58:33 +0000

I have a number of friends who have reached or are reaching retirement age. Not that many of them are actually retiring. What they’re doing is leaving the jobs or businesses to which they’ve devoted a good part of their lives and devoting their time instead to the people they value in their lives and to the things they’ve been wanting to do but previously had no time for. Now they have the time, and they’re going for it. This recession has hit a lot of them hard though. Due to bad investments or shrinking returns, there just isn’t as much as they had expected. and so a good number of them are having to re-think their plans.

But then there are the ones who seem to be weathering this recession quite smoothly. I’m thinking of a particular couple who live in Florida. I asked them how it was that they were faring quite well compared to others, and they attributed their good fortune to having a good investment manager. They live in Boca Raton FL, and they use a local company called Epsilon Investment Management.

So I gave some thought to what they had shared. I know that people have all sorts of opinions as to what kind of management company is preferable. There are those who like the large, branded ones because of the extensive resource base they have access to. And then there are those who like small firms because of their more personalized service. Some prefer global firms long on expertise and wide in exposure; others opt for regional companies that invest strongly in their area. My friends told me they chose Epsilon Investment Management because it was located in Boca Raton, Florida.

Undoubtedly, deciding whom to entrust your finances to requires careful consideration. I know one thing, though. Based on the recent financial collapse and the way my friends in Boca Raton fared in spite of the way things went, Epsilom Investment Management is one firm that’s definitely worth looking into.

Eyeglasses: Vanity vs. Necessity

sofree — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:35:56 +0000

There was a time when people who had to wear eyeglasses in order to improve their vision were averse to doing so because it spoiled their image. Glasses made them look too old or too bookish or too nerdy. Gone are those days where necessity was forced to give way to vanity. These days eyeglasses come in all kinds of designs, styles, and colors that some people who don’t actually need them have actually taken to wearing them because they’re so chic or cool or they just add some desired cachet.

I’ve recently found a very cool place to look for glasses over the internet. It’s eyeglasses.com. I was surfing the internet when I chanced upon their website. It so happened that I was looking for a gift for a good friend who was looking for the same type of glasses John Lennon wore in the Beatles’ Imagine album. It turned out that eyeglasses.com had a pretty wide selection of retro as well as vintage glasses, so I searched and guess what? They had the very ones my friend wanted. I ordered them and got them delivered on time for Gary’s birthday. He was pretty elated.

And I was pretty impressed. This site has a really extensive inventory of eyeglasses and sunglasses. They’ve got designer eyeglasses for those who are into brands and, as I’ve already mentioned, they’ve got scads of vintage and retro ones too. But if you don’t have anything specific in mind but just have a general look that you’re looking for, what’s really helpful is that you can search their site for round eyeglasses, or small or big eyeglasses, or rimless eyeglasses. Very convenient and easy. They’ve got a good stock of sunglasses too. I found a pair that I really liked. Their prices aren’t bad either, and service is quite good.

Amos Tamam

sofree — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:19:37 +0000

The world owes a lot to visionaries. There are visionaries with world-impacting dreams that will forever change the way people view things. Think Jesus, think Gandhi, think Martin Luther King Jr. Then there are visionaries whose vision is focused more towards a specific thing – like Thomas Edison who dreamed, among other things, of a lamp that could operate on electricity. Such is Amos Tamam.

Amos Tamam immigrated to the United States in the 1980s in search of opportunity. Trained as an electrical engineer at the Tel Aviv University in Israel, Amos found a job repairing taxicabs. Repair and maintenance got him to working on systems to improve fleet and fuel management for cab owners. These days Amos is still in the taxicab business, and his dream of a better life for himself has been fulfilled. He is now CEO of Verifone Transportation Systems, a division of Verifone Corporation and the industry leader in a technology that is starting to change the lives of cab drivers and passengers alike.

What is this technology? It’s an innovation of Amos Tamam himself. This innovation allows cabs to accept payment via credit cards. Those inured to the ease of paying by credit card in all manner of establishments may say, “Big deal.” But to cab drivers whose lives are at risk each day from robbers who prey on cash-carrying victims, this is a big deal. This minimizes the temptation to those with evil designs. And to the passenger loath to going out with too much cash in hand, this is a big deal. The safety benefits alone are big, not to mention the convenience of it all. This innovative system is currently being used in New York City and Philadelphia, but the way technology spreads these days, it’ll take a blink of an eye before it disperses to all parts of the country and even the world.

Okay, so it won’t shake mountains. But Amos Tamam’s vision to make a better life for himself and his vision to find a way to make things work more efficiently may, in some point in someone’s life, make a mountain of difference.

Sak Narwal

sofree — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:54:52 +0000

I recently read an article concerning the murder of sharks that made me so sad. Shark fin is a delicacy in some cultures, especially the Chinese culture. It seems that 50% of sharks are accidentally caught by fishing boats looking for other fish. Realizing the value of their accidental catch but not wanting to keep the entire shark, these unscrupulous fishermen “fin” the shark – i.e. they cut off the shark’s fins and throw the bodies back into the ocean. Often the sharks are still alive as their fins are cut off. When they’re thrown back into the ocean, they bleed to death and drown, unable to swim without their fins. The practices of fishermen such as these are not just abominably cruel but also extremely detrimental to the ocean’s ecosystem.

I got to thinking of how we need more fishermen the likes of Sak Narwal. Infatuated with fishing since he was a young boy, Sak is the consummate fisherman. Not only is he equipped with the best and the latest in fishing technology, owning an impressive collection of rods and reels and lures, but he also makes it his business to understand everything he can about the fish he is pursuing – their environment and place in the ecosystem, their feeding habits, etc.

Sak Narwal has traveled near and far for the pleasure of fishing for the world’s great sports fish. He’s fished for salmon in Alaska, redfish in Louisiana, brook trout in New York, American shad off the New Jersey portion of the Delaware River. He’s even fished for sharks off Montauk Point on New York’s Long Island. What I admire about Sak, though, is that he’s strictly a “catch and release” fisherman. His enjoyment of the fishing experience doesn’t require a victim. When Sak Narwal catches a bass, the bass soon finds himself splashing once again in the cool waters from whence he came.

So when I was reading that article on the “finning” of sharks, I thought of how the world would be benefited if only more fishermen could share Sak’s intelligent and benevolent approach to fishing.

A Happy Experience with K-Designers

sofree — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 08:55:05 +0000

A Happy Experience with K-Designers

By sofree

Last year, when an offer opened up for my husband and me to continue our lives’ work overseas, we decided to take it. We had some tough choices to make, one of which was to sell the house we had lived in happily for 30 years and raised our children in. Since it had gone through more than its fair share of wear and tear, we decided to raise its value by doing some repair and renovation. We did our research, made some inquiries, and heard about K-Designers, specialists in home remodeling We heard that the company had been in business for three decades, just abut how old our house was, and we took that to be a good sign. It’s hard to stay in business for so long if you fail to satisfy your clients’ requirements. Some of the people we knew had used their services before, and the reports we got about them were positive. So we decided to go with them.

During our first meeting with the K-Designers representative, he presented the product lines of the company and the costs. We studied the options we had, taking into account the suggestions of the representative who impressed us with his knowledge. When we made our final decisions, he informed us of the costs and the length of time it would take to effect the remodeling. The whole decision-making process was quite pleasurable and stress-free.

Within a week, the work commenced. K-Designers’ contractor was very courteous and handled his workers well. They did their work so unobtrusively that we sometimes forgot they were around. They too were very polite. I must say we were impressed with the professionalism of the work crew of K-Designers. They finished the work a couple of days ahead of schedule, and their clean-up was very thorough. And our house… what a metamorphosis!! It wasn’t unsightly before, but it had a rather dated look. With its enlarged picture windows, the new sidings, and the new design of our entrance, our house has a fresh, crisp look. It really looks like a brand new house.

The only sad note in our experience with K-Designers was our realization that we wouldn’t be living in this “new” house for too long. That momentary regret, however, was quickly overshadowed by the wonderful price we were able to sell our house for.

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sofree — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:36:59 +0000

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