arnold-sanow.com

Tulsa-based Dollar Thrifty CEO: ‘We are fixed’

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Oct 30, 2009 by Kirby Lee Davis

Mission accomplished.

That’s the message President and Chief Executive Scott L. Thompson gave employees Thursday after Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group completed a secondary offering of 5.7 million shares of stock at $19.25 per share.

“The successful completion of our equity transaction last night represents the end of our journey back to financial health,” Thompson said in a note to employees. “With over $300 million in tangible net worth, over $900 million in cash, rock solid operations and a world-class work force, I can now proudly say we are fixed.”

That provided a rare sense of bravado from a firm that has shed more than 700 jobs through three restructurings over the last three years. After losing $340 million last year, Dollar Thrifty finished the first nine months of 2009 with a $33.6 million profit, its revenue down 10.5 percent to $1.2 billion.

Local securities analysts cautiously agreed with Thompson’s statement, some suggesting the Dollar Thrifty leader could be 2009’s chief executive of the year.

“They’ve definitely turned the corner and they want everyone to know they’ve do stretch marks really go away turned the corner,” said Fredric E. Russell, head of Fredric E. Russell Investment Management of Tulsa. “They’ve done a fabulous job in turning this company around and raising money, but the easy money has already been made. This appears to be a contradiction, but it really isn’t. The easy money for those who did their homework has already been made.”

Wall Street demonstrated some of his logic. After closing Wednesday at $19.47, DTG shares inched just one penny higher Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. About 4.7 million shares traded hands, five times its daily average.

For investors who watched the stock rise from 60 cents during the dark days of March to $27.50 last week, making DTG one of the darlings of Wall Street, M. “Jake” Dollarhide said trading around the $19 level may seem something of a backwards slide, even though the lost value tracks the 25-percent increase in available shares.

“I think it’s part dilution, and I think it’s part of the market taking a step away from Dollar Thrifty and saying, gosh, we’re a long way from 60 cents,” said Dollarhide, chief executive of Tulsa’s Longbow Asset Management.

“I think it would be overly enthusiastic to say that Dollar Thrifty was fixed and that there still won’t be a lot of challenges,” he said. “The majority assume the economy will turn around at the mid to late 2010. What if that doesn’t materialize and the travel sector doesn’t improve and that this has all been wishful thinking? I’m not meaning to be a downer here. I personally do think the economy will turn around this year. But what if it doesn’t?”

None of that diminishes the turnaround DTG experienced since Thompson replaced Gary Paxton on Oct. 13, 2008. Within two weeks Thompson faced the unenviable task of cutting 400 jobs. The company then warned that it could run afoul of creditor agreements.

But as the new year began, Dollar Thrifty started chipping holes through the gloom

Carol Olson: Recalling the many ways to brew a cup of coffee

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Oct 19, 2009 | by Carol Olson

We seniors have seen many changes over the years in how our coffee is made. The first coffeepot I seem to remember Grandma Davidson using was a big, navy blue one. The bottom was black from the years of gas flames heating the water for thousands of pots of coffee.

I think when the water was hot, she placed the ground coffee in pieces of sheetlike material and tied it shut with butcher’s string.

Some years later, she got a shiny silver percolator that had a metal stand inside to hold up a small perforated metal basket in which the coffee grounds were placed. It had a glass knob on the top, and you could watch the water spurt up and change to a darker coffee color the longer the pot was on the stove.

The adults always seemed to enjoy it from small cups that sat in matching saucers. It was years before they let me taste it, but my coffee was mostly milk and sugar. It made me feel so grown up to have my “special” coffee with them.

Then I think she got a two-piece aluminum one; the bottom part held the water, and the top half was placed on with the coffee grounds in it.

It worked on the same principle as the percolator, but the part that held the grounds easily could be removed by its handle after the coffee was finished. That left the bottom part with nothing but coffee in it. You took the lid from the top part, and it fit right on the bottom part to make it easy to pour the coffee and helped keep it warm.

Corning made a glass coffeepot made from a material called Pyrex, and I can’t remember one ever cracking from the heat. It also was a two-stage coffee maker; the water on rachael ray cookware the bottom and a glass tube going to the top section, in which the coffee grounds were held.

When the water was boiling, you placed the glass round top with the grounds in it on top of the bottom one and turned off the fire. It was like a vacuum seal between the two pots; the hot water came up the tube and filled the top part with the water and then slowly seeped back down to the bottom part.

When electric coffeepots were made, the ladies enjoyed them because they didn’t have to be put on the stove and take up space there

Open country

0 Comments | Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland), The, Oct 29, 2009

Byline: Kirsty McLuckie

With plenty of room inside and the great outdoors beyond, Strathearn Galleries gives you growing room, says Kirsty McLuckie

Strathearn Galleries might once have been a farm but now there is not a hen or a haystack in sight. These luxury new-build family homes would not look out of place on a chic city street.

The seven five-bedroom homes by IM Developments each have kitchens finished in wood and glass with polished granite worktops. Porcelanosa tiling and sanitary ware come as standard in the bathrooms and the contemporary open-plan interior is ideal for contemporary, relaxed family living.

It is only when enjoying the spectacular views up the Strathearn Valley that you remember you are in the heart of the beautiful Perthshire countryside.

The selling agent, Sharon Zaremski, says: “Talk about the best of both worlds: Strathearn Galleries at Newbigging is just four miles from Crieff and within commuting distance of Perth, Dundee and Edinburgh, so you are not far from city life, yet this is an ideal place to bring up children and enjoy the countryside.”

The generous open-plan living space boasts double-height windows and, outside, the slate roof and exposed brick are a nod to its previous existence.

Prices are fixed landscape photography at GBP 525,000. The show home is open every Sunday between 1pm and 4pm.

* For more information contact Sharon Zaremski, tel: 0131-226 2500.

Houston Real Estate Market Recovered Despite Rising Unemployment

PR Newswire, Oct 28, 2009

HOUSTON, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ — Movoto.com is reporting that housing prices in Houston have risen significantly in 2009, despite the alarming nation-wide increase in the unemployment rate. The national rate of unemployment reached 9.8% in September 2009. Although the cities of both Houston and Dallas have a lower unemployment rate than the national average, each city has still seen a continuous increase throughout 2009 to approximately 8.1% by the end of September 2009. The unemployment surge has had little effect on the recovering real estate market in both US cities as homebuyers have continued to buy and the average price of a home for sale has increased during the same period.

The average price of homes for sale in Houston in the first quarter of 2009 fell to $180,373 compared to an average price of $199,747 in the same quarter of 2008. The unemployment rate rose 1.7% in this period. The prices have shown a recovery in the last 6 months with an average home price of $213,117 in the third quarter of 2009, despite a corresponding 2% rise in unemployment beginning the first quarter of 2009.

The Dallas real estate market showed similar results. The average price dipped to $186,167 in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the average price of $203,433 in the same quarter of 2008. The market showed resilience in the third quarter of 2009 as the average price rose to $205,900, despite the rise in unemployment to 8.1% by the end of September 2009.

  Houston    Unemployment Rate   Average Price Active Listings Sales
  -------    -----------------   ------------- --------------- -----
  Q1 2008    4.4%                $199,747      154,287         15,984
  -------    ---                 --------      -------         ------
  Q2 2008    4.3%                $215,484      160,177         21,109
  -------    ---                 --------      -------         ------
  Q3 2008    5.1%                $218,672      156,765         18,079
  -------    ---              homebuyers report    --------      -------         ------
  Q4 2008    5.2%                $191,503      141,780         13,994
  -------    ---                 --------      -------         ------
  Q1 2009    6.1%                $180,373      134,693         12,257
  -------    ---                 --------      -------         ------
  Q2 2009    6.7%                $209,826      136,540         16,743
  -------    ---                 --------      -------         ------
  Q3 2009    8.1%                $213,117      138,141         18,302
  -------    ---                 --------      -------         ------

  Dallas     Unemployment Rate   Average Price Active Listings Sales
  ------     -----------------   ------------- --------------- -----
  Q1 2008    4.4%                $203,433      88,263          11,574
  -------    ---                 --------      ------          ------
  Q2 2008    4.7%                $218,367      91,151          15,142
  -------    ---                 --------      ------          ------
  Q3 2008    5.2%                $213,533      85,497          14,330
  -------    ---                 --------      ------          ------
  Q4 2008    5.9%                $202,967      77,457          9,802
  -------    ---                 --------      ------          -----
  Q1 2009    6.9%                $186,167      77,057          8,943
  -------    ---                 --------      ------          -----
  Q2 2009    7.4%                $204,067      78,377          12,435
  -------    ---                 --------      ------          ------
  Q3 2009    8.1%                $205,900      71,193          12,907
  -------    ---                 --------      ------          ------

The number of home sales in both cities remained strong and was unaffected by the continuous increase in the unemployment rate. In Houston, the number of houses sold dropped from 6635 in August 2008 to 4336 in September 2008. However, homebuyers continued to purchase homes in 2009. Approximately 5654 houses were sold in Houston in September 2009, a 30% increase over the number of homes sold in September 2008. In January 2009, the number of houses sold in Dallas reached a low point over a one-year period, bottoming out at 2340 houses sold

Just one bite: potentially fatal, Lyme disease is underdiagnosed in women.(Health ADVICE)

Curve, November, 2009 by Robinson, Heather

Isabel * used to love to watch the deer outside her home in Marin County, a Northern California community known for its beautiful views and unspoiled open spaces. Then the 37-year-old began to experience a myriad of strange symptoms, including hives, joint pain and gastrointestinal distress.

“You really feel like your body is slowly f80 treadmill breaking down and you don’t know why,” she says. It was almost three years before she was correctly diagnosed with Lyme disease, a tick-borne bacteria that is most common on the East Coast, but has been reported in nearly all 50 states

Sears Adds Innovative Features to Cardholder Program Including Credit Score Access

PR Newswire, Oct 29, 2009

In response to sweeping changes in the credit card industry Sears institutes program changes to provide additional value to consumers

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Consumers turn to Sears for the products they need and many payment options to purchase them — especially in these tough financial times. Sears announces new benefits and new features to provide more retail value to Sears card customers, including:

  --  Credit Score Access - Sears is the first major retailer to offer its
      cardholders access to their credit score at no additional cost.  Sears
      cardholders can review their credit score at any time, understand the
      factors that affect their credit score and learn how to improve their
      score using the innovative "credit score simulator" tool.
  --  Monthly Cardholder-only Sales - Sears cardholders can take advantage
      of special deals, including extra discounts, deferred interest
      financing offers and valuable coupons in their billing statements.

  --  New Sears Platinum MasterCard - Sears is also introducing a Platinum
      MasterCard.  In addition to all the other benefits of being a Sears
      cardholder, Sears Platinum MasterCard cardholders can enroll in the
      complimentary Sears Choice Rewards program, which rewards customers
      with merchandise, travel, dining and more.  Members earn one point for
      every $1 spent on all purchases and have the opportunity to enjoy
      exclusive bonus point events.  And, all current Sears Gold MasterCard
      customers will have full access to platinum card benefits.

“The recent changes in the credit card industry are making their way across all retail credit programs, which includes Sears and those of our competitors as well,” says Susan Ehrlich, President, Sears Financial Services, Sears Holdings. “It is now more vital than ever to offer customers innovative ways to pay that meet their financial needs. As a retailer, we also want to do everything we can to give cardholders more retail value.”

Credit cards are not the only option customers have at Sears. Additionally Sears customers can utilize a variety of payment options to meet their financial needs, including:

  --  Convenient layaway plans that help customers get what they need and
      pay for it over time.
  --  The new Christmas Club Card program that enables customers to save
      ahead for the holidays.  Sears also adds a 3 percent bonus to the
      money they have put on their Christmas Club gift card by November 14,
      2009.

  --  Special "No Interest" financing options with Sears cards gives
   credit secrets bible    customers the opportunity to manage their budgets and pay over time.

Cardholders can learn more about the savings and financing options available at Sears by visiting http://www.sears.com/creditoffers.

>

About Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Sears Holdings Corporation is the nation’s fourth largest broadline retailer with approximately 3,900 full-line and specialty retail stores in the United States and Canada. Sears Holdings is the leading home appliance retailer as well as a leader in tools, lawn and garden, home electronics and automotive repair and maintenance. Key proprietary brands include Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard, and a broad apparel offering, including such well-known labels as Lands’ End, Jaclyn Smith and Joe Boxer, as well as the Apostrophe and Covington brands. It also has the Country Living collection, which is offered exclusively by Sears and Kmart

Despite record earnings, Okla.-based Alliance misses analyst

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Oct 29, 2009

Despite record earnings, coal demand is down and Alliance Resource Partners missed analyst expectations by 6 cents per share for the third quarter.

Alliance Resource Partners on Wednesday announced record net income of $36.4 million for the quarter, a 25.1-percent increase from the same period in 2008. Third-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were up 19.7 percent at $72.8 million; revenue was up 4.8 percent to $299.6 million.

“These accomplishments are particularly impressive in light of the significant demand destruction for coal-based electricity caused by the worst recession our country has experienced since the Great Depression,” Alliance President and CEO Joseph W. Craft III said in a press release.

Craft said the company strengthened its contract position through a new long-term coal sales agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority and had its first coal production from a new mine at the River View development during the quarter.

Year-to-date revenue rose 10.3 percent from last year to a record $932.8 million, the company reported. Year-to-date EBITDA and net income also reached record levels; EBITDA increased 32.1 percent to $257.7 million and net income jumped 38 percent to $150.4 million.

Alliance increased its cash distribution to unitholders to 76 cents for the quarter, an 8.6-percent increase over the same quarter in 2008 and a 2-percent increase over the second quarter.

Craft said despite the company’s strong financial performance, demand for coal is low.

“Generally weak demand for electricity continues to dampen coal demand in the markets we serve,” he said. “Although there are signals that some segments of the U.S. economy are beginning to stabilize and recent pressure on coal demand from fuel switching has begun to abate as natural gas prices increase, we believe slow growth in the industrial sector is likely to keep power generation essentially flat in the near term. Anemic power generation, coupled with document shredding historically high customer stockpiles, is expected to constrain utility coal demand through most of 2010 as well.”

Alliance Resource Partners is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol ARLP

Piedmont city briefs

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Oct 29, 2009 | by Piedmonter

Dentists collect candy for charity

Beginning Monday and ending on Nov. 6, Pleasant Valley Dental Care will be collecting Halloween candy and donating money to the Oakland Children’s Hospital during their “Cash for Candy” event.

They will donate $50 for tulsa cosmetic dentist every pound of candy brought into their office and will give $5 to every child who brings in a pound. No appointment is necessary and children are encouraged to walk into the Pleasant Valley office, 1880 Pleasant Valley Avenue, Suite F, between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Vintage jewelry fundraiser

Fine antique jewelry, vintage beads, broaches and boxes, cameos – - treasures from grandmother’s jewelry box — will be the topic of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Piedmont Chapter’s annual fundraiser on Nov. 6. Marcia Harmon, jewelry designer and proprietor of the Cottage Jewel, a Danville store specializing in vintage jewelry and furnishings, will give a presentation at the fundraiser, which begins at 9 a.m. with coffee and breads followed by the program at 9:45 a.m., at the Piedmont Community Center, 711 Highland Ave.

Harmon is a jewelry designer of contemporary or period designs, and a specialist in antique and vintage jewelry and vintage wares. A question-and-answer session and evaluations on pieces brought by guests follows.

Call 510-835-1940 for more information or reservations and advance tickets for $20. Tickets are $25 at the door.

Police chief to meet residents

Oakland’s new police Chief Anthony Batts will meet with Oakland Hills residents on Nov. 12, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m

Trustcash to Add Euro Debit

Market Wire, October, 2009

Trustcash Holdings Inc. (the ” Company or
Trustcash”) (PINKSHEETS: TCHH) confirms that the credit card with cash back Company has decided to
expand the methods for purchasing Trustcash to include Euro Debit
(”EUDEBIT”).

Trustcash will be able to access approximately 100 Million users upon
addition of EUDEBIT.

EUDEBIT (European Bank Debit) system is the most widely-used form of
payment in Europe for both one-time or recurring payments.

EUDEBIT is the perfect billing solution for European customers with no
credit card or those who are reluctant to use them online for purchases and
“plastic” of any kind is no longer needed. With a EUDEBIT system, consumers
can purchase products or services over the Internet, and the funds are
instantly withdrawn from their bank accounts in a safe and efficient
manner.

85% of the adults in the European Union have a bank account; this addition
offers them a preferred method of doing business with our customers.

About Trustcash

Through its Trustcash brand and website ( www.trustcash.com ), Trustcash is a
pioneer of anonymous payment systems for the internet. Trustcash developed
a business based on the sale of a virtual stored value card that can be
used by consumers to make secure and anonymous purchases on the internet.
The company markets its Trustcash(TM) payment card, which is sold in
denominations ranging from $10 to $200 online.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

A number of statements contained in this press release are forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and
uncertainties, including the sufficiency of existing capital resources,
technological changes and uncertainties related to the development of
Trustcash’s business model

Let Kids Sleep Late on Weekends to Fight Fat: Study

HealthDay, October, 2009 by David Freeman, HealthDay Reporter

Letting children sleep late on weekends and holidays might help them avoid becoming overweight or obese, a new study suggests.

Researchers in Hong Kong found that children buy phentermine 37.5 who got less sleep tended to be heavier (as measured by body mass index, or BMI) than children who slept more. But among children who slept less than eight hours a night, those who compensated for their weekday sleep deficit by sleeping late on weekends or holidays were significantly less likely to be overweight or obese.

The study, which confirmed previous research linking sleep deficits to obesity in children, also found that, on average, children slept significantly longer on weekends and holidays than on school weekdays. However, the overweight children tended to get less weekend/holiday sleep than…