Brothers build on success at Harper Technologies
Posted: May 28, 2012 at 7:19 am
DAPHNE, Alabama -- A lot can happen in five years.
In 2007, brothers Abe and Carl Harper were hard at work and enjoying the successes of their company, Harper Technologies LLC, with several high-profile customers under their belt including Wells Fargo and Learning Tree International.
The company, started in 2002, builds, repairs and customizes personal computers, and offers Web site design and maintenance, networking, data backup, software support and printer repair services.
The business that now gives the brothers a steady paycheck, helped put Carl through college on someone else's dime. Based on his work while still at Daphne High School, Carl, now 23, got scholarships that covered half of his expenses at the University of Alabama.
He graduated with highest honors, earning a degree in business management in December 2010.
With a brick-and-mortar office in Daphne as well as a satellite office in Tuscaloosa to service contracts in central and northern Alabama and northeastern Mississippi, Harper Technologies has weathered the economic downturn.
A private company, Harper Technologies does not reveal annual sales or profit, but the brothers said annual revenue has grown by at least 30 percent every year since 2007, and 40 percent or better in the last two years.
"We heard a lot of references to people losing business because sales were down," Abe, 29, said of the dip in the economy in 2008. "As the economy slowed, our sales number went down but our service numbers went up."The company's profit margin on services and repairs rose at a time when many businesses were struggling to stay afloat. Customers opted to fix what they had rather than buy a new product, Carl said, providing the company a huge benefit.
"It's a very favorable situation for the customer and us," Abe said of the shift to more repairs. "It shows an established confidence between the customer and our ability and our services."The company didn't escape the downturn unscathed. Its office in Tallahassee, Fla., closed, and its client list shrink.
But the Gulf oil spill in 2010 provided a boost via a contract to deliver, install and maintain computer equipment used at catastrophe claims centers stretching from Bay St. Louis, Miss. to Crawfordville, Fla.
Read the original:
Brothers build on success at Harper Technologies
Success Story: Rachele Johnson
Posted: at 7:19 am
Lesley Young/Special to The Commercial Appeal
"I have never felt better," says Rachele Johnson, who signed up with a personal trainer last fall. "I am just elated."
Once Rachele Johnson decided to lose some weight, she progressed from walking with a friend a few times a week to working out sometimes twice a day.
"My friend recommended a trainer for me, and it ended up being an excellent decision," said Johnson, 56.
She signed up last fall with Yvette Smith, and over the course of six months, she has lost more than 60 pounds.
"My weight loss has averaged 10 pounds a month consistently," said Johnson, who lives in Cordova.
Smith first gave Johnson a "calorie budget," based on her weight and age, and Johnson gradually adapted her eating habits to include more fruits, vegetables and lean meats.
"I ate very poorly," she said. "I ate lots of sweets, lots of breads, drank wine regularly, and all the foods that are not good for you."
In the beginning of her workout journey, Johnson met with Smith three days a week for strength training and some cardio exercise.
Once she had mastered that routine, Smith changed it up for her.
Continued here:
Success Story: Rachele Johnson
Cast, crew efforts recognised
Posted: at 7:18 am
Most of the cast and crew of The Sound of Music, staged by Showbiz Queenstown at the Queenstown Memorial Hall from May 17 to 26. Photo by Geoff Patterson.
Lisa Moore, who lit up the stage as Maria, was selected by director Bryan Aitken to receive the Alan Cheak Memorial Trophy for displaying the most personal development during rehearsals.
Assistant director and stage manager Marty Newell was chosen by Aitken to receive the Scooter Reid Memorial Crew Excellence Award for his technical skill, good spirit, commitment and attitude. Along with the trophy, Newell took home late community stalwart Glenn "Scooter" Reid's tool box for a year.
Chris Parvin, who co-starred as Captain Georg von Trapp, won the Kenny Maurice Memorial Award, awarded to the cast member who made the most positive contribution to the overall good spirit of the show and based on a vote by the cast.
Helen Bird, who played the role of Sister Berthe, was presented with the Showbiz Queenstown Douglas Kamo Scholarship of $500 to help advance her musical theatre career. Bird has performed in every Showbiz production since Chess in 2005.
Head mechanist Jim Gibson was recognised by Showbiz president Alex Derbie with the President's Pick for choreographing set movements.
Jonty Climo, one of two actors who played Kurt von Trapp, was given the Hoofer's Award on Aitken's recommendation for making the most personal growth and contributing the most as a dancer.
Samuel Farr won the Committee Award for his significant contribution to the show, specifically for looking after the children, making sure they had the right costumes on, had the correct props and were in the right places for their entrances.
Derbie told the Queenstown Times the awards recognised those who "excelled even beyond their own expectations and it's a thank you, really, from the society".
The president said The Sound of Music had been one of the Showbiz Queenstown's most successful shows in terms of attendance and staging.
The rest is here:
Cast, crew efforts recognised
Pilates instructor teaches healthy habits
Posted: at 1:14 am
Pilates instructor teaches healthy habits
A group of young girls learns all about getting healthy thanks to the help of a South Florida Pilates instructor who battles with an auto-immune disorder the all natural way.
Tonka Cascias runs ProPilates in Fort Lauderdale, home of her infamous cardio ballet barre workout.
Local 10's Neki Mohan and her Women of Tomorrow mentees were up for the challenge, which introduces heart pumping exercises and health to teen girls who want to feel and look better.
"I really enjoyed the class. It was fun, interesting. I am a cheerleader," said one girl. "Active, but this was a little bit more the other side of hard."
"I was really shocked at first. We started really slow then it started really working my body," said another.
The workout gives the teen's a head start on healthy habits for life.
"What I hope they take from today is the concept of health and how important it is and the simple truth that if you don't have your health, you have nothing because that's what I was faced with," said Cascias.
was diagnosed with a debilitating auto-immune thyroid disorder six years ago.
Doctors prescribed medicine. Instead, she became a raw vegan and reversed her symptoms. Now, she is spreading the word and educating everyone.
Read more from the original source:
Pilates instructor teaches healthy habits
Wright coaching UCLA while preparing to play for Team USA in Olympics again
Posted: May 27, 2012 at 6:13 pm
Adam Wright climbs out of the pool at Cal Lutheran, quickly changes into his clothes and jumps into his car.
He drives to Westwood to spend a few hours at UCLA's pool before jumping back into his car and heading back to the pool at Oaks Christian School.
Wright has been leading a double water polo life the last few years.
He is a member of the USA Water Polo Men's National Team and also the head coach of the UCLA men's water polo team.
"The easy thing to do is complain because, of course, some days are long and you are rundown and tired," Wright said. "But I am very lucky to be able to do both and I absolutely love doing both."
Wright, 35, just completed his third season as the head coach of his alma mater.
As a player, Wright led the Bruins to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1999 and 2000. Wright was an assistant coach at UCLA for the men's and women's teams in 2008-09 before being named the men's head coach.
During his interview for the job, Wright informed the UCLA administrators that he still planned to participate in the London Olympics.
The core of the national team was intent on pursuing the gold medal after capturing the silver in 2008 in Beijing.
"I made it clear I still had the ambition of playing at the highest level," said Wright, who will be playing in his third Olympics. "I have been with this group for almost 16 years. What we did in the beginning was great, but we really didn't reach our ultimate goal."
View original post here:
Wright coaching UCLA while preparing to play for Team USA in Olympics again
Phuket Health Club New Touch Screens 2 Thai – Video
Posted: at 6:13 pm
More here:
Phuket Health Club New Touch Screens 2 Thai - Video
Tiffany Poised to Continue Fall
Posted: at 6:13 pm
By Tom Gibbs - May 27, 2012 | Tickers: COH, LVMUY.PK, RL, TIF | 0 Comments
Tom is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.
The luxury goods sector has been a rather mixed bag since the industry initiated its rebound from post-2009 trough levels. Top lines in most of the industrys niches leather goods, watches/jewelry, upscale apparel, etc. have generally increased year-over-year, yet continued spending on operational rightsizing, rather volatile prices in raw material markets, and a slight pull back in consumer confidence levels have translated into a less-than-robust jump in company profits.
Undoubtedly one of the most disappointing performers as of late has been jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF), which hit a new 52 week price low following the release of its Q1 2012 filing. Coming off a relatively weak performance in Q4 2011, the corporation posted:
The saving grace for the jewelry retailer was its increased penetration into emerging markets, yet despite the continually increasing sales in Asia/Pacific and Japan (sales increased 17% and 15%, respectively, for both markets in the quarter), Tiffany has released weakened full year 2012 sales and earnings guidance.
Even with the correction in price during trading on Thursday the stock closed down 7.7% but fell by as much as 10.7% in intraday trading there are several signs that Tiffanys has not yet reached the bottom.
Jewelry Market is Slowing
It would be one thing to say that tweaking Tiffanys own operations amongst a generally improving jewelry market will yield improved performance in the near future. It is more troubling to note the reality: stagnated growth in Tiffanys industry, following a swift rebound from mid-recessionary lows, implies that most performance improvement will come from market share gains in an extremely fragmented competitive landscape.
MasterCards recently released SpendingPulse report, which tracks retail sales across all payment forms, has shown that the jewelry market has taken the largest hit among all generally slowing luxury good sales. Following a meaningful 13.0% and 6.7% jump in Q4 2011 and Q1 2012, respectively, luxury sales as a whole slowed to a more manageable 1.8% increase in April. Sales in the jewelry category experienced much less robust improvements in each of the comparable periods: 7.4% increase in Q4 2011, 5.3% increase in Q1 2012, and a 3.7% decrease this past April.
The data holds up when comparing Tiffanys recent performance with other players in the broader luxury goods industry:
Continue reading here:
Tiffany Poised to Continue Fall
Hatfield swim talent Walton on road to success
Posted: at 6:12 pm
Martyn Walton
HATFIELD Swimming Clubs Martyn Walton insisted he was delighted to not only break a personal record but come away with an added gold bonus at the Sainsburys School Games.
To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below.
The message will include the name and email address you gave us when you signed up.
Send link
To send a link to this page to a friend, you must be logged in.
The 14-year-old swam a time of 1:57.38 minutes in the 200m freestyle at the London Aquatics Centre to come top of the podium before coming fourth in the 400m individual medley later in the day.
To add to the gold medal, Walton also went below 1:58 in the 200m freestyle for the first time to claim a new personal best.
And the John Henry Newman School pupil could barely hide his delight at what was a very successful day in the water.
I feel really good actually, obviously getting a gold medal is really nice but to also get a personal best is a really good thing for me, he said.
Pairing with Google for a snapshot of success
Posted: at 6:12 pm
Matthew 25: Ministries ships food, medical supplies and personal care items to more than 11 million poor people or disaster victims each year from its sprawling facility in Blue Ash.
Now the entire world will get a peek at how thats done.
The nonprofit charity will become the next local operation to have its inner workings featured in Google Business Photos. The new program offers 360-degree visual interior tours that can be found in Google Maps, Google Places and Google Search when customers search for a business.
Alias 360 Photos, a division of downtown commercial photographer Alias Imaging, will begin shooting at Matthew 25: Ministries on Friday. Alias is the first local photographer to become a certified Google Trusted Photographer, debuting with a 360-degree shoot of historic Arnolds Bar & Grill earlier this month.
My first thought was, from a business perspective, this is a gold mine, said Chris Breeden, general manager of Arnolds. We have customers ask about the tub room (featuring an antique bathtub). They can go to our website and virtually walk into the room. They get to tour our restaurant before stepping foot inside.
In February, Breeden approached Alias Imaging, his next-door neighbors on Eighth Street downtown, about becoming a Google Trusted Photographer and making Arnolds the companys first subject.
I knew they would make it happen, Breeden said. The response has been great. Our hits are up on the web site. (The 360-degree tour) went completely viral on Twitter.
Google Business Photos also represents a huge opportunity for Alias Imaging, founded in 2003 by photographers Adam Henry, a former Procter & Gamble employee and mechanical engineering graduate from Purdue University, and John Carrico, an ex-freelance photographer with Frontgate.
Alias had built a robust client base including P&G, Macys, LensCrafters and Kroger when the recession resulted in a 40-percent drop in business. But business is booming ever since Alias completed the three-month process to become a Google Trusted Photographer.
(Page 2 of 2)
Continue reading here:
Pairing with Google for a snapshot of success
Spiritual journey tour programme on May 28
Posted: at 6:12 pm
Posted on May 27, 2012, Sunday
BINTULU: Islamic Information Centre (IIC) will be holding the IIC spiritual journey tour 2012 programme at BDA Auditorium, Wisma Bintulu from 7.30am on May 28.
It will be held in collaboration with Badan Harakah Islamiah (Baharis), Bintulu Development Authority (BDA) and Bintulu branch of Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (Macma).
Its next destination is Miri.
Among the lectures to be delivered is the Miracle of Heart by Prof Mohd Ali Izuddin, better known as Professor Izzi, who conducts lectures and motivational courses on public speaking, personal development, teamwork, leadership, communication, learning and parenting skills.
In the meantime, the tour programme is in line with the IIC to promote and deliver information on Islam.
In addition the programme promotes understanding and appreciation of Islam among people of all races and religions in the state.
All those interested are welcome to take part in the programme.
For enquiries call Muhamad Zakaria or Rohaiza (IIC) at 082-420798 or 082-420799 or fax 082-420628.
<< Previous Entry - Next Entry >>
See the rest here:
Spiritual journey tour programme on May 28