Sometimes it's not only what you want to do, but where you want to live that counts in a career. While home offices and the internet have broken down some geographic boundaries, there are still some jobs higher in demand in some regions than others.
It is with that said, high school and college students -- as well as those contemplating a second career -- may want to take a look at the "Hoosier Hot 50" list, which was developed by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Of course, it comes with no surprise that demand is high in the medical and computer fields, but there are a few that may catch you off guard.
Here is the list of those and other top-ranking "in-demand" jobs, which is broken down by region here (Greene County is in Region 8 on page 8 of 11):
http://www.in.gov/dwd/files/Hoosier_Hot_50_2009_REGIONS_2008-Dec-12.pdf
For those more entrepreneurial, who may want to try their hand at self-employment, you may look at some of the bidding opportunities available. For example, here's the procurement area of INDOT: http://www.in.gov/serv/indot_bviewer Rest assured, they don't just need asphalt either. I've seen everything from port-a-pots to padlocks being bid out on this website.
Or, maybe you'd like to add an agricultural twist, as there's also been a recent announcement of an ag venture capital fund, which has a home base of Indianapolis, Indiana: http://www.midpointvc.com/ They describe themselves as, "A venture capital fund investing in promising venture stage companies that bring valuable innovations to growing segments of the food & agricultural industries."
There are a lot of opportunities outlined with these, and other websites out there, which may help finish the sentence, "When I Grow Up, I Want to be a…"
****
This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, "Riddle Me This".
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Operation Food Fight - Chris' Throw
In March 2008, I took a field trip to the Greene County Health Department, located in Bloomfield. My mission was to inquire about the restaurant inspections within the Linton area. I wasn't quite sure how this inspection of the records would work, but I found out that I needed to request each inspection file by restaurant name.
So, while at the Health Department, I started down the highway in my mind, naming off the restaurants as I 'passed' them in my mind. A total of 23 were requested. Admittedly, I missed a few. In fact, I missed three eateries I believe.
Having a newly-hired County Sanitarian on staff, and to be fair to the restaurants themselves, I withheld the actual names. As you can see from this previous post, I simply referred to them as, "Establishment 1, 2, 3…" Here's the original post: http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/chriswathen/entry/17356/
Since that post, Matt Mason http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/1159/ joined as a "Community Blogger" here on the GCDW website. Of course, his niche is food, cooking, and restaurants, while mine has been mostly business-related items, investing, and some government issues from time-to-time. So, it's a nice overlay of themes for us both when talking about restaurant inspections. You have a little bit of everything wrapped up into one, big proverbial "taco" so to speak: food safety, restaurants, government, business, etc.
Needless to say, it was only time until we'd tackle a follow-up, and that time is finally here.
To change up things this time, however, Matt took a look at the records a few days ago. And he was a bit more aggressive in his research than I, as he tackled the whole county… at least most every restaurant.
See, at the point that I had inquired about the records there were a total of 128 in the county, and we'll assume that figure from March is still applicable today. Of course, that figure includes not only restaurants, but all entities that handle prepared food. So, that figure includes delis, food stands/trailers at special events, as well as gas stations that have one of those hot dog rolling warmer contraptions. Matt tackled mostly the bricks-and-mortar restaurants, sprinkling in a few delis and convenience stores along the way.
There are a lot of different avenues a blogger (or bloggers) can take armed with this information, but we thought the most helpful to the community, as well as the most objective, was to just issue the information as found in the files. The general public can access these same inspection records, as the information contained in the files are public information. Hopefully, a few of you will because the vibe both Matt & I received at the Health Department was that we were the first and second people to ever inquire.
When reading these, please keep in mind that those establishments that no inspection records could be found are just that: no records found. They could be quite clean -- or dirty -- we just don't know without a record of the last inspection. You may also keep in mind that those with violations in the past -- especially a few years ago -- could now be fixed and no longer have an issue… or they still may be issues. Without a recent inspection, we just don't know. Thankfully, many were immediately taken care of, if not within a few days.
So, without further ado, approximately half of the inspections found -- or not found -- are shown below from the December 2008 visit to the Health Department. Matt will fill you in on the rest of them at http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/1159/entry/22812/
First, let's start with those places without any inspections found in the file. They included: the Bloomfield IGA, Crossroads Café, the Dancing Bear, the Dug Out Bar, the Front Porch, The Grill, Hidden Hills Golf Course, Hunter's Drive-In, J'Lin Catering, Jo Etta's Pizza Villa, Mocha Tan, Pepperoni Grill, Pizza City, Rosie's Diner, Sharon's Place, Subway in Linton, and Value Mart. Again, without an inspection found, we just don't know.
Those having inspections found are listed below, along with the number of total violations cited, and the number of those violations considered "critical" with a short explanation of those:
Angell's Food Center was inspected on 06/27/06. At that inspection, which has now been about 2 ½ years ago, there were 9 violations found with 2 critical. The sanitary solution was found inadequate and food was found to be not date marked. The file shows these were corrected.
Burger King was last inspected 03/18/08, and it was found to have 5 violations at that time. Only 1 was found to be critical, which was no air gap between floor & ice machine in customer self-service area. It was corrected 10 days later.
Casey's in Linton had 3 violations, but 0 critical on its last inspection conducted 02/12/08.
On 08/25/08, there were 2 violations with 1 being critical at China Sea. Raw meat was found stored directly over ready-to-eat foods. This was immediately remedied.
At the Country Porch in Jasonville on 11/25/08, there were a total of 9 violation found. The 2 critical violations were a leaking toilet in the restroom, while utensils and equipment were not being sanitized as the third bay of the sink was inaccessible and had no water available.
The Dairy Queen in Linton had 10 violations with 8 critical on the 09/15/08 inspection. No info was found on if these have been corrected since that time.
There were 2 violations found at El Ranchito on 01/23/08. The 1 critical violation found was that the hot water sanitizing temperature on the dish machine was only reaching a temperature of 131 degrees, but was remedied that same day.
Francisco de Borja Coffee had only 1 violation with 0 found to be critical at its inspection on 04/01/07. Similarly, Hamm's Place had 1 violation with 0 critical on 03/19/08 when it was last inspected.
Jim's Petro Plus had 4 violation found on 02/19/08 with 0 found to be critical.
At its 10/07/04 inspection, Kentucky Fried Chicken had 6 violations with 4 being critical. Those critical violations found were quaternary ammonium sanitizer used at 3-bay sink not at the adequate concentration, spray hose at 3-bay sink was below the flood level rim, a spray bottle with purple liquid at the fry area was not labeled, & heavy-duty degreaser was found stored next to box of bacon bits under the buffet.
La Plaza had 5 violations with 0 critical at its inspection on 10/16/07.
Living Greene had a clean bill of health at its latest inspection on 10/23/08, as did Main Street Café & Deli on 06/03/08. Both are located in Bloomfield and are new establishments there.
The McDonald's in Wal-Mart had 4 violations with 0 critical, although this inspection was conducted some time ago on 02/28/06.
On 02/28/08, the Oodle Inn was inspected and found to have 1 violation, but 0 critical.
Petro Plus Worthington had 4 violations with 0 critical on 08/27/07.
In an August 2006 inspection, Pizza Hut in Linton had 1 critical violation, namely "numerous cockroaches & flies in the dishwashing area".
South Side Express had 2 violations on 02/12/08, but 0 found to be critical.
Stanifer's Twist & Shake in Jasonville had 10 violations in February 2006 with 3 found to be critical. Hopefully, since that time, these have been corrected, although no follow-up was found in file.
Town & Country Services was inspected 08/15/08, and it had only 1 violation with 0 critical.
Finally, Wendy's had 10 violations cited with 2 critical. The toilet in the men's bathroom was not working, and the temperature of the cheese at the drive-thru prep area was at 51.5 degrees F. These were corrected 10 days later on 04/12/08.
It is interesting to note that 29 of the 80 files pulled were inspected by the Health Department in 2008. So, the number of inspections is improving since my last review of the files. For more health inspections, go to Matt's post at: http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/1159/entry/22812/
***
This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, "Riddle Me This".
So, while at the Health Department, I started down the highway in my mind, naming off the restaurants as I 'passed' them in my mind. A total of 23 were requested. Admittedly, I missed a few. In fact, I missed three eateries I believe.
Having a newly-hired County Sanitarian on staff, and to be fair to the restaurants themselves, I withheld the actual names. As you can see from this previous post, I simply referred to them as, "Establishment 1, 2, 3…" Here's the original post: http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/chriswathen/entry/17356/
Since that post, Matt Mason http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/1159/ joined as a "Community Blogger" here on the GCDW website. Of course, his niche is food, cooking, and restaurants, while mine has been mostly business-related items, investing, and some government issues from time-to-time. So, it's a nice overlay of themes for us both when talking about restaurant inspections. You have a little bit of everything wrapped up into one, big proverbial "taco" so to speak: food safety, restaurants, government, business, etc.
Needless to say, it was only time until we'd tackle a follow-up, and that time is finally here.
To change up things this time, however, Matt took a look at the records a few days ago. And he was a bit more aggressive in his research than I, as he tackled the whole county… at least most every restaurant.
See, at the point that I had inquired about the records there were a total of 128 in the county, and we'll assume that figure from March is still applicable today. Of course, that figure includes not only restaurants, but all entities that handle prepared food. So, that figure includes delis, food stands/trailers at special events, as well as gas stations that have one of those hot dog rolling warmer contraptions. Matt tackled mostly the bricks-and-mortar restaurants, sprinkling in a few delis and convenience stores along the way.
There are a lot of different avenues a blogger (or bloggers) can take armed with this information, but we thought the most helpful to the community, as well as the most objective, was to just issue the information as found in the files. The general public can access these same inspection records, as the information contained in the files are public information. Hopefully, a few of you will because the vibe both Matt & I received at the Health Department was that we were the first and second people to ever inquire.
When reading these, please keep in mind that those establishments that no inspection records could be found are just that: no records found. They could be quite clean -- or dirty -- we just don't know without a record of the last inspection. You may also keep in mind that those with violations in the past -- especially a few years ago -- could now be fixed and no longer have an issue… or they still may be issues. Without a recent inspection, we just don't know. Thankfully, many were immediately taken care of, if not within a few days.
So, without further ado, approximately half of the inspections found -- or not found -- are shown below from the December 2008 visit to the Health Department. Matt will fill you in on the rest of them at http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/1159/entry/22812/
First, let's start with those places without any inspections found in the file. They included: the Bloomfield IGA, Crossroads Café, the Dancing Bear, the Dug Out Bar, the Front Porch, The Grill, Hidden Hills Golf Course, Hunter's Drive-In, J'Lin Catering, Jo Etta's Pizza Villa, Mocha Tan, Pepperoni Grill, Pizza City, Rosie's Diner, Sharon's Place, Subway in Linton, and Value Mart. Again, without an inspection found, we just don't know.
Those having inspections found are listed below, along with the number of total violations cited, and the number of those violations considered "critical" with a short explanation of those:
Angell's Food Center was inspected on 06/27/06. At that inspection, which has now been about 2 ½ years ago, there were 9 violations found with 2 critical. The sanitary solution was found inadequate and food was found to be not date marked. The file shows these were corrected.
Burger King was last inspected 03/18/08, and it was found to have 5 violations at that time. Only 1 was found to be critical, which was no air gap between floor & ice machine in customer self-service area. It was corrected 10 days later.
Casey's in Linton had 3 violations, but 0 critical on its last inspection conducted 02/12/08.
On 08/25/08, there were 2 violations with 1 being critical at China Sea. Raw meat was found stored directly over ready-to-eat foods. This was immediately remedied.
At the Country Porch in Jasonville on 11/25/08, there were a total of 9 violation found. The 2 critical violations were a leaking toilet in the restroom, while utensils and equipment were not being sanitized as the third bay of the sink was inaccessible and had no water available.
The Dairy Queen in Linton had 10 violations with 8 critical on the 09/15/08 inspection. No info was found on if these have been corrected since that time.
There were 2 violations found at El Ranchito on 01/23/08. The 1 critical violation found was that the hot water sanitizing temperature on the dish machine was only reaching a temperature of 131 degrees, but was remedied that same day.
Francisco de Borja Coffee had only 1 violation with 0 found to be critical at its inspection on 04/01/07. Similarly, Hamm's Place had 1 violation with 0 critical on 03/19/08 when it was last inspected.
Jim's Petro Plus had 4 violation found on 02/19/08 with 0 found to be critical.
At its 10/07/04 inspection, Kentucky Fried Chicken had 6 violations with 4 being critical. Those critical violations found were quaternary ammonium sanitizer used at 3-bay sink not at the adequate concentration, spray hose at 3-bay sink was below the flood level rim, a spray bottle with purple liquid at the fry area was not labeled, & heavy-duty degreaser was found stored next to box of bacon bits under the buffet.
La Plaza had 5 violations with 0 critical at its inspection on 10/16/07.
Living Greene had a clean bill of health at its latest inspection on 10/23/08, as did Main Street Café & Deli on 06/03/08. Both are located in Bloomfield and are new establishments there.
The McDonald's in Wal-Mart had 4 violations with 0 critical, although this inspection was conducted some time ago on 02/28/06.
On 02/28/08, the Oodle Inn was inspected and found to have 1 violation, but 0 critical.
Petro Plus Worthington had 4 violations with 0 critical on 08/27/07.
In an August 2006 inspection, Pizza Hut in Linton had 1 critical violation, namely "numerous cockroaches & flies in the dishwashing area".
South Side Express had 2 violations on 02/12/08, but 0 found to be critical.
Stanifer's Twist & Shake in Jasonville had 10 violations in February 2006 with 3 found to be critical. Hopefully, since that time, these have been corrected, although no follow-up was found in file.
Town & Country Services was inspected 08/15/08, and it had only 1 violation with 0 critical.
Finally, Wendy's had 10 violations cited with 2 critical. The toilet in the men's bathroom was not working, and the temperature of the cheese at the drive-thru prep area was at 51.5 degrees F. These were corrected 10 days later on 04/12/08.
It is interesting to note that 29 of the 80 files pulled were inspected by the Health Department in 2008. So, the number of inspections is improving since my last review of the files. For more health inspections, go to Matt's post at: http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/1159/entry/22812/
***
This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, "Riddle Me This".
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
A Follow-Up Post: Good & Bad in the Ugly
It's been a year now, so it's time for some follow-up on a post from last year.
On a Friday back in early-December 2007, I posted about a portfolio of six publicly-traded companies (dubbed "the 6-pack"), along with an additional pick of Anheuser-Busch (the "+1"). http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/chriswathen/entry/15323/ And boy, this fantasy football-style portfolio has had a violent ride in the stock market over the past 12 months!
That final pick (BUD) became the best of the group, mostly because of the announcement of a take-over of the giant American brewer by Belgian-based InBev. Since that December 7th post, BUD has risen by about 30%, based on the closing price in December '07 & then at close on December 9th, 2008, a simply incredible return given the current and very ugly market.
Overall, the 6+1 portfolio was down about 29% for the year. (It performed a little better if you factor in the dividends received during the period too.) Not too spectacular from that standpoint, I'll admit. Arguably, placing funds in an FDIC-insured bank CD would have returned more, probably somewhere in the 2.5% to 4% range for the same period, depending on the bank, the term, etc. http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/chriswathe...
But that would not be necessarily comparing apples-with-apples, would it?
Sure, a safe and secure CD would have returned a positive return, but had the market swung the other way, it would not have enjoyed those gains either. That's the general difference between equity and debt investments. With equity, you own piece of the company, so you share in the profits or losses. With a debt investment, or the act of you essentially loaning money to an entity, the return is typically much smaller -- and many times fixed from the beginning, but the principal is better protected. In the case of the bank CD, a debt investment (your money, the bank's debt), it's insured by the FDIC up to a certain threshold, one that has increased from $100,000 to $250,000 in most cases recently.
But back to the issue at hand: the market didn't go higher, you say. Well, that's great if you have an infallible crystal ball, but I don't.
So, let's compare apples-to-apples, and let's look at the returns of the overall market in the same timeframe to see how the 6+1 portfolio fared. The S&P 500 index is often used as a broad representation of the overall stock market, and if one "share" of this index was purchased at the closing price on the same date of December 7th, 2007, it would have lost almost 41%. Ouch!
In any event, comparing the 6+1 portfolio to the overall market via the S&P 500 index, the difference is an out-performance of the market by approximately 12% -- even better with the dividends paid from this higher-paying dividend portfolio factored into the calculation.
Not bad, comparatively-speaking to the S&P index. As always, it's relative to how and what the comparison may be though.
So, there you have it: the good and the bad of this small portfolio in a very ugly market.
***
This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, "Riddle Me This".
On a Friday back in early-December 2007, I posted about a portfolio of six publicly-traded companies (dubbed "the 6-pack"), along with an additional pick of Anheuser-Busch (the "+1"). http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/chriswathen/entry/15323/ And boy, this fantasy football-style portfolio has had a violent ride in the stock market over the past 12 months!
That final pick (BUD) became the best of the group, mostly because of the announcement of a take-over of the giant American brewer by Belgian-based InBev. Since that December 7th post, BUD has risen by about 30%, based on the closing price in December '07 & then at close on December 9th, 2008, a simply incredible return given the current and very ugly market.
Overall, the 6+1 portfolio was down about 29% for the year. (It performed a little better if you factor in the dividends received during the period too.) Not too spectacular from that standpoint, I'll admit. Arguably, placing funds in an FDIC-insured bank CD would have returned more, probably somewhere in the 2.5% to 4% range for the same period, depending on the bank, the term, etc. http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/chriswathe...
But that would not be necessarily comparing apples-with-apples, would it?
Sure, a safe and secure CD would have returned a positive return, but had the market swung the other way, it would not have enjoyed those gains either. That's the general difference between equity and debt investments. With equity, you own piece of the company, so you share in the profits or losses. With a debt investment, or the act of you essentially loaning money to an entity, the return is typically much smaller -- and many times fixed from the beginning, but the principal is better protected. In the case of the bank CD, a debt investment (your money, the bank's debt), it's insured by the FDIC up to a certain threshold, one that has increased from $100,000 to $250,000 in most cases recently.
But back to the issue at hand: the market didn't go higher, you say. Well, that's great if you have an infallible crystal ball, but I don't.
So, let's compare apples-to-apples, and let's look at the returns of the overall market in the same timeframe to see how the 6+1 portfolio fared. The S&P 500 index is often used as a broad representation of the overall stock market, and if one "share" of this index was purchased at the closing price on the same date of December 7th, 2007, it would have lost almost 41%. Ouch!
In any event, comparing the 6+1 portfolio to the overall market via the S&P 500 index, the difference is an out-performance of the market by approximately 12% -- even better with the dividends paid from this higher-paying dividend portfolio factored into the calculation.
Not bad, comparatively-speaking to the S&P index. As always, it's relative to how and what the comparison may be though.
So, there you have it: the good and the bad of this small portfolio in a very ugly market.
***
This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, "Riddle Me This".
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Chief of Running Companies into the Ground
Since a post back in September on the subject, I ran across another interesting website at http://gcdailyworld.com/blogs/chriswathen/entry/20991/ that shows executive compensation at some of America's largest companies.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), which describes itself as a federation of a number of national and international labor unions, has developed the "Executive PayWatch Database" on its website for many of America's top Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). The database can be viewed and searched here: http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/pay...
Many of the companies that are now arguably the biggest causes of the current credit crisis compensated their leaders extremely well. For example, total compensation in 2007 for these CEO's is reported on the site as follows:
Martin J. Sullivan, American International Group Inc. (AIG): $14,330,736
Daniel H. Mudd, Fannie Mae: $11,648,409
Richard S. Fuld, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.: $34,382,036
To put this into perspective, the median U.S. household income is approximately $50,000, as shown here in an August U.S. Census Bureau press release: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/012528.html So, these three executives noted above made about 233 to 688 times the amount of the 'average' U.S. household.
With the current economy, in general, and the financial state of the companies above, something doesn't seem right, does it?
***
This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, "Riddle Me This".
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), which describes itself as a federation of a number of national and international labor unions, has developed the "Executive PayWatch Database" on its website for many of America's top Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). The database can be viewed and searched here: http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/pay...
Many of the companies that are now arguably the biggest causes of the current credit crisis compensated their leaders extremely well. For example, total compensation in 2007 for these CEO's is reported on the site as follows:
Martin J. Sullivan, American International Group Inc. (AIG): $14,330,736
Daniel H. Mudd, Fannie Mae: $11,648,409
Richard S. Fuld, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.: $34,382,036
To put this into perspective, the median U.S. household income is approximately $50,000, as shown here in an August U.S. Census Bureau press release: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/012528.html So, these three executives noted above made about 233 to 688 times the amount of the 'average' U.S. household.
With the current economy, in general, and the financial state of the companies above, something doesn't seem right, does it?
***
This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, "Riddle Me This".
Monday, December 8, 2008
FOR SALE: Cubs Baseball
According to the Tribune Company's last 10-Q filing with the SEC in November 2008, the Cubs baseball team is up for sale and will likely be 'disposed of' in 2009. See this link for more info: http://corporate.tribune.com/tribune_sec/investors_test.php?page=secfilings
After all, it has been no secret that the Tribune Co., owner of the Cubs team, has seen better times, financially-speaking. In November, Standard & Poor's cut the company's ratings even deeper into 'junk' territory, citing financing difficulties. More recently, some rumors are swirling that the company may even seek out bankruptcy protection, if things do not turn around in the very near term.
Given the company's financial difficulties, many wonder if the sale of the Cubs will even bring 'fair market value' for its owner? Of course, their now 100-year title drought for a World Series win could also factor into the final price tag.
***
This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, "Riddle Me This".
After all, it has been no secret that the Tribune Co., owner of the Cubs team, has seen better times, financially-speaking. In November, Standard & Poor's cut the company's ratings even deeper into 'junk' territory, citing financing difficulties. More recently, some rumors are swirling that the company may even seek out bankruptcy protection, if things do not turn around in the very near term.
Given the company's financial difficulties, many wonder if the sale of the Cubs will even bring 'fair market value' for its owner? Of course, their now 100-year title drought for a World Series win could also factor into the final price tag.
***
This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, "Riddle Me This".
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Business Scam
Business owners should be on the look out for a new scam, which may present itself in your mailbox soon. The letter has the appearance of an official government request to handle certain business paperwork, citing fictitious laws and requesting a fee for these services. The Indiana Secretary of State issued the following 'Scam Alert' recently:
http://www.in.gov/sos/pdfs/ScamAlert.pdf
***
This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, "Riddle Me This".
http://www.in.gov/sos/pdfs/ScamAlert.pdf
***
This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, "Riddle Me This".
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