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Hard to believe, but over the last 10 years I've rented at 10 different places. The cheapest rent being $150 at a really old house with two friends (post college); the most expensive being $1,295 at the townhouse my wife and I lived in for a year just after getting married. Most of those moves were justified for some reason. Mainly, I just couldn't settle down into a career. Also, I wasn't married nor did I have any other responsibilities tying me down.
Reason #1 for buying a house: I finally settled down. By settling down I mean I got married and found a career that I am content with. This career happens to have many job opportunities in the local market, so even if I grow tired of my company, I can always just hop to the next. These two things provided the stability to my life I needed to buy a home the right way.
Reason #2 was financially driven. Once my wife and I were married we wanted to start building equity in real estate by buying a home. In effect, creating savings from the money we were then paying out in rent. We also wanted our financial portfolio to be diversified. At the time, all we had was cash and retirement savings. Of course we could have just started investing in real estate stocks or mutual funds and been just as diversified…but that leads me to the third reason.
Reason #3 was simply that we wanted to have "our" home. We wanted a home we could call our own, not just another place.
What's the point? There is a right and wrong time to buy a house. Success comes to those who wait.
How We Found Our Home
Our Reasons for Wanting to Buy a Home
Once we decided we wanted to settle down and get our own house, we needed to find it. I'd be lying if I said we did a huge, exhaustive home search with the help of a top notch realtor. We actually determined we loved the neighborhood of townhouse we were currently renting in and decided to buy one of the townhouse being built in the next phase. The neighborhood is close to both of our jobs and the low-maintenance lifestyle if perfect for us right now. After deciding this, however, we did do a few things that gave me comfort we weren't making a poor decision:
1. A Home We Could Really Afford
Our first move was to think carefully about how much home we could afford. There are plenty of online calculators and formulas out there that will give you a target home price you can reasonably afford based on your income and expenses. While we did use those, we didn't strictly rely on them. Other factors we considered, which I think are important for deciding what house is affordable:
- We wanted to be able to put 20% downto avoid private mortgage insurance and have a decent amount of equity in the home up front.
- We wanted a home we could afford using a 30 year fixed rate mortgage.
- We wanted to be able to afford the payment based on either of our incomes alone.
- We wanted to leave enough money in our monthly budget to travel well and enjoy life outside of our home without the feelings of "working for our mortgage".
2. Met with a Trusted Realtor
Since this was our first home, we decided we'd feel more comfortable throughout the offer and loan closing process if we had a professional with us. Something I'd recommend to someone who doesn't already know a Realtor is to go out to Dave Ramsey's Endorsed Local Providers page and find one. This is what we did and While we didn't need them for our home search, they really came in handy come offer time and even made the offer for us (which we got!). We would have felt out of our league without them.
3. Did Our Own Research
Another thing we did was do our own research about the neighborhood. I set up a Google Alert to track any news or sales and rentals listings in our neighborhood. After about a month of searches, I had a spreadsheet filled with sale and rental prices of comparable properties in our neighborhood. I was then able to see that the offer we were making was in fact a great deal for us, and we weren't paying too much. Let me know if you'd like to see this spreadsheet and I'll forward it to you.
In addition to sales price research, you should research the best mortgage rates in your area.
I also did some research on townhouses and their resale value and came to the conclusion that we were making the right choice based on location and association fees. Lastly, it didn't hurt that we were currently living in one of the townhouses that we would be buying. We knew and felt comfortable with the builder's product and the warranty service.
I ended up reading several books on the home buying process, but probably got the most use from the book Home Buying for Dummies (affiliate link).
How We Picked the Right Mortgage
This was pretty easy for us, as we feel strongly about the use of fixed rate 80% loans over other products. We've seen recently the dangers of going with other products. Our main concern was deciding between a 15 and 30 year loan term. We ended up going with a 30 year loan and hope to make extra payments to get rid of the debt quicker. Finally, we needed to decide on a lender. I detailed how we selected a lender in a December 2007 post. Please check that out.
Final Thoughts
Well, that's really all I have for now on the topic. You learn a lot from buying your first home and most of it, for me, was an enjoyable experience. While it can be scary at times, you can ease your fears by knowing your stuff and staying within the limits I've mentioned above. When all is said and done, please make sure the time is right for you to buy, you buy the house you can afford, and you select an appropriate mortgage product.
Have any home buying tips? Leave them in the comments below.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Walmart Ups Ostale to Head Latin American Operations
Posted on January 14, 2013 by
Enrique Ostale
BENTONVILLE, Ark.-Enrique Ostale, president and CEO of Walmart Chile, has been appointed executive vice president, president and CEO of Walmart Latin America.
Ostale will oversee the retailer's operations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua when he assumes his new post on March 1. He will succeed Eduardo Solorzano, who will retire and continue to serve as chairman of Walmart De Mexico.
Ostale joined D&S, which later became Walmart Chile after the retailer acquired it, in 1989, serving in a number of finance and merchandising positions. He left D&S in 2000 to join El Mercurio Online, the website of Chile's El Mercurio newspaper. He then rejoined D&S in 2006 as president and CEO, and then led the transition of D&S to Walmart Chile after the acquisition, in 2009.
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Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ:TSCO)
F3Q08 Earnings Call
October 22, 2008 5:00 pm ET
Cara O'Brien - Financial Dynamics
James F. Wright - Chairman, President, Chief Executive Officer
Anthony F. Crudele - Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Stanley L. Ruta - Executive Vice President, Store Operations
Gregory A. Sandfort – Executive Vice President, Merchandising
David Cumberland - Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc.
John Lawrence - Morgan Keegan
Analyst for David Magee - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey
Jack Murphy – William Blair & Company
Peter Benedict - Wachovia Capital Markets
Dan Wewer - Raymond James
[Shawn DeSoro] – Black Rock
Stephen Chick - Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co.
Mitch Kaiser - Piper Jaffray
Joan Storms - Wedbush Morgan
Andrew Wolf - BB&T Capital Markets
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Tractor Supply Company's conference call to discuss third quarter results. (Operator Instructions)
I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Ms. Cara O'Brien of FD.
Cara O'Brien
Thank you, Operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Before we begin let me take a moment to reference the Safe Harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including the future operating and financial performance of this company. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances such expectations or any of its forward-looking statements will prove to be correct.
Important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements are included in the company's filings with the SEC. The information contained in this call is accurate only as of the date discussed. Investors should not assume that the statements will remain operative at a later time. Lastly, Tractor Supply Company undertakes no obligation to update any information discussed in this call.
Now I'm pleased to introduce Jim Wright, Chairman, President, and CEO. Jim, please go ahead.
James F. Wright
Thank you, Cara, and good afternoon everyone. I'm here today with Tony Crudele, our Chief Financial Officer, Stan Ruta, EVP of stores, and Greg Sandfort, EVP of Merchandising. I am very pleased that through our team's hard work we delivered an exceptionally strong quarter. We've been able to navigate the headwinds as consumer sentiment continued to weaken throughout the year and we've leveraged our leadership position in rural markets by taking advantage of key sign opportunities to serve our customers.
Let me briefly review a few of the highlights and Tony will go into more detail in his section. First our team has remained focused on consistent execution of our key initiatives to both grow and to improve our business. We continue to make progress on our store expansion, on our inventory management, and merchandising programs. Our aggressive expense control management program has continued to gain traction as we've positioned Tractor Supply Company to operate as a leaner organization. As a result of our solid efforts and the overall resiliency of our business model, we grew total sales by 16.6%, comps by 6.2%, and earnings per share by 20.5%.
Second, during the quarter we experienced a significant contribution from core consumables and certain seasonal product categories. We continued to derive repeat traffic and average ticket increases through our compelling merchandise assortment.
Our core consumable category, such as animal and pet-related products, continued to perform well. Emergency preparation and response items such as generators and pumps were driven by demand created from the impact of Hurricane Ike. As many of you know, in the third quarter we are also focused on preparing our stores for the important fall and winter and holiday seasons. We are pleased that other seasonal products such as our home heating units and wood pellet fuel experienced strong demand earlier in the season than usual.
Our stores are well prepared to support this increase of initial demand. Finally, we continue to improve working capital management by managing our inventory levels efficiently and by achieving strong earnings growth. We've been able to deliver significant cash f low from operations. Cash flow from operations increased nearly $88 million to $143.6 million for the nine months of 2008 versus the same first three quarters of 2007. This has provided us with ample liquidity to fund both our store growth and share repurchase programs while reducing our debt by $65 million.
As a result of our leadership's anticipation and response to headwinds, we've continued to grow our business at a time when many other retailers have not. However, it's important to note that we are not immune from macroeconomic trends. While the soft housing market has had less impact on our customers and our company than most, we recognize that this, along with the increasingly challenging economy, are contributing factors to the overall weakening consumer sentiment. Therefore we believe it is imperative that we remain diligent and focused on what has made our company successful.
All of our actions this year have been consistent with our strategic vision for the company. We believe that the solid financial and operational foundation we have in place will allow us to successfully navigate the current challenges while concurrently positioning the company for the future. I will discuss how we are preparing for the winter and holiday seasons along with our financial long term growth drivers later in the call.
Now I'd like to turn the call over to Tony to review our financial performance during the quarter and to discuss our full year outlook.
Anthony F. Crudele
Good afternoon, everyone. During the quarter we were extremely pleased with both our top line results and expense control. Our sales performance provided us the ability to effectively manage gross margin and control inventory levels. For the third quarter ended September 27, 2008, sales increased 6.6% to $733.9 million compared to last year's third quarter. Net income was $19.8 million or $0.53 per diluted share compared to $17.5 million or $0.44 per diluted share in the same period last year.
Total comp sales for the period increased 6.2% and non-comp sales were approximately $63.8 million or 8.7% of sales. Going into greater detail about sales in the quarter, our core consumable business remained an outstanding performer in the third quarter. Our customers also responded extremely well to our pre-season heating assortment. We believe they wanted to ensure they secured wood heating stoves, furnaces, and pellets as an alternative energy source. It's important to note that based on our analysis of year-over-year heating sales trends, we believe a large portion of the advanced purchases we saw in Q3 normally would have occurred in Q4.
Total comp sales benefited from an increase in emergency response sales as a result of the landfall hurricanes in Louisiana and Texas. Although we lost some selling days from store closures, we had an overall sales increase. We estimate the hurricanes benefited comp sales by approximately 100 to 150 basis points and EPS was approximately $0.03. We increased average comp transactions by approximately 90 basis points. An average ticket increased 5.2%. We believe this was primarily as a result of increased retail prices related to commodity cost increase.
Consumers continue to be cautious with their spending on discretionary and big ticket items except where it was a particulars need or they perceived a compelling value. For example, categories that performed well included alternative heating stoves, chainsaws, and welders. Also of note is that the gap between our housing related categories and chainwide comps has narrowed as we are stifling some of the steep declines of last year. We had positive comp sales in each month of the quarter. While July was the strongest month, September was also positively impacted by the emergency response and pre-season heating sales.
Other than the hurricane activity, weather did not play a significant factor on a year-over-year comparable basis. Generally moisture levels across the country improved year-over-year with fewer regions experiencing drought conditions this year. With respect to the regional sales trends, comp sales were the strongest in the northern states and weakest in the southeast, which was impacted by both dry conditions and slowness of the Florida economy.
Comp sales in our Dell stores were below the company average as they were cycling double digit comps in the prior year. Additionally significantly higher hay prices had a negative impact on the consumer in the quarter.
Turning now to gross margin, we experienced a decline of approximately 97 basis points compared to the prior year quarter. This decline resulted principally from an increase in freight expense, an increase in the LIFO reserve, and an aggressive markdown program. First let me review a few items that negatively impacted gross margin. Freight expense increased by 39 basis points as a result of increased fuel costs and to a lesser extent a mix of the goods that carried higher than chain average freight costs.
Our LIFO allowance increased by 24 basis points over the prior year driven by escalating grain, oil, and steel costs this year. Although we have received some relief in the recent weeks from the various categories of inflation, our year end estimates continue to run much higher than previous year. Although we continue to improve our per store inventory levels, we continue to have charges for certain of our LIFO pools because of increasing moving average costs and our overall company inventory increasing as you would expect from a growing company.
We had a strong emergency response merchandise sale that negatively impacted the margin mix as it generally carries a lower than chain average margin. Additionally, we continue to be aggressive with the markdowns for seasonal product and certain non-go-forward inventory to keep the inventory fresh. All of these were partially offset by product margins which improved principally from better buying, retail price increases, and improved inventory turnover.
Import purchases as a percentage of purchases in the quarter increased 10 basis points from the prior year. Although we have not seen our import purchases increase significantly as a percent of purchases this year as we have stringently managed our inventories. We have seen our sales from import goods increase almost 40 basis points and now represent about 6.6% of our sales. For the quarter, SG&A including depreciation and amortization as a percent of sales was 26.2%, a decrease of approximately 70 basis points from the same quarter in the prior year. Sales productivity clearly benefited the leverage in the quarter. While we continue to experience higher occupancy costs from our store expansion program, it is beginning to moderate and the expense was offset by other SG&A categories that we did leverage.
In the third quarter we opened 20 stores compared to 21 store openings last year. The opening expenses were approximately $2.1 million compared to $2.4 million in the prior year quarter. Our cost containment initiative continues to be very effective as we focused on reducing non-essential costs while managing through the tough economic environment. For example, at our summer store managers sales meeting, we considerably reduced the number of attendees and had one less hotel night stay. This saved approximately $500,000 in the third quarter.
Turning to the balance sheet. First we continued to make great strides on inventory management. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter that inventories on a per-store basis have decreased. At quarter end, inventory levels per store were down approximately 8.5% compared to the prior year. Our calculation is based on average cost of inventory and excludes in transit inventory and inventory held in unopened stores.
As we head into Q4, we are pleased with our inventory position and we anticipate that we can continue to drive down inventory per store albeit at a lesser magnitude. Inventory turns have improved nearly 20 basis points to 2.75 on an annualized year-to-date basis. This resulted principally from better inventory management. We believe our improved inventory management will continue through the remainder of the year and we are well positioned to exceed our target for improving annual turns by 15 basis points.
We also improved accounts payable financing of inventory from approximately 38.7% up to 48.4% resulting principally from better accounts payable management and vendor dating. The management team continues to make progress on this initiative that we commenced last year and it's received momentum from the accelerated inventory turns.
Capital expenditures for the quarter were approximately $15.4 million. As anticipated, the majority of the spend relates to our new store opening program. Year-to-date CapEx totals $68.8 million which includes $8.5 million for the acquisition of two store properties in the first quarter. No properties were acquired in the third quarter. For the first nine months of last year, 2007, CapEx totaled $68.4 million.
During the third quarter we continued to make purchases under out stock repurchase program. Specifically, we bought approximately 465,000 shares for $14.7 million for a cumulative of 192.5 million since the inception of the program in February 2007. The share repurchase program had a favorable impact on EPS for the quarter of approximately $0.01. Subject to prevailing market conditions, we expect to continue to make additional purchases as part of our long term objective at reducing our cost of capital.
However, generally when there is significant volatility in the equity markets, it will temper our purchasing activity. As Jim mentioned, we continue to make great strides in generating strong cash flow by managing our working capital position. We anticipate that our peak borrowings which generally occur in February and October time frames will not exceed $100 million in the fourth quarter. This is a substantial decrease from the prior year and we are committed to continuing to manage our capital structure prudently.
As many of you are aware, we exercised our option to expand our revolving credit facility by $100 million earlier in the year. We are very comfortable with our liquidity position as this facility is $350 million and does not expire until 2012. Our bank group is solid, led by Bank of America.
Turning to our outlook for the full year. With respect to our financial expectations for the full year 2008, as noted in today's press release we have confirmed our previous expectations for sales, comp sales, and earnings per share. We expect full year sales to range between $2.98 billion to $3.03 billion with full year comp sales ranging between flat and up 2% and earnings per share to range between $2.49 and $2.55.
Let me discuss a few of the assumptions underlining these estimates. First, we have balanced our full year guidance based on a combination of current economic trends and our performance for the year-to-date. As we look forward to the fall holiday season, we have taken a very cautious perspective that we believe is appropriate. The retail environment is clearly uncertain with consumer confidence at a low and current consumer environment and economic forecasts are for weak holiday spending.
At the same time, our customers have responded favorably over the past quarter. As evidenced by our results, we have seen over the course of this year that our business has been quite resilient during a very difficult economic period. The consumer continues to shop our stores for a wide variety of functional and non-discretionary items that are very relevant to their lifestyle. These trends have continued into October although it should be noted that we are facing relatively easy comp sales for October.
Additionally we have a very solid fall and holiday program and Jim will provide more color on that shortly. From a weather perspective, as most of you are aware, harsh cold winters generally will have a positive impact on sales when our insulated work wear, heating products, snow removal, and emergency response equipment are essential. In the fourth quarter we anticipate that the weather will have a neutral to negative impact as it will be difficult to cycle some of the colder November weather we experienced in 2007 based on the current weather forecasts.
We are planning for lower gross margins for the fourth quarter versus the prior year given the expected fuel costs, our current merchandise mix, and our ongoing inventory management initiatives. Our fourth quarter estimates for fuel cost are based on current price levels which are still slightly higher than the fourth quarter last year. At the same time we anticipate we will continue to leverage SG&A slightly on a reasonable sales base because we have been very successful this year in aggressively managing our operating expenses.
We have continued to manage discretionary projects more tightly throughout the year and now anticipate CapEx spending to be closer to $90 million which is approximately $5 million below the guidance we provided on the last quarter conference call. Related to our store expansion program, we expect to open 21 stores in the fourth quarter and finish 2008 with approximately 91 new stores. We will relocate one store in the fourth quarter.
A quick comment on 2009 expansion. As we have previously stated on our second quarter conference call, we had anticipated holding our store growth constant around 90 stores. Although we have a good portion of the new stores for 2009 already under lease, we will review our proposed sites very critically to ensure proper capital allocation as we maintain our disciplined capital spending program and Jim will discuss this in greater detail momentarily.
In addition we are cognizant that some of the real estate partners are very likely to have financing limitations in 2009 due to the tightening credit markets. In the event third party projects are eliminated or pushed to a later period, we would not seek to replace those deals in our new store pipeline for the year. Therefore we anticipate it as more probable that we will open 70 to 80 stores in 2009.
In closing, as you may sense from our comments, we are very pleased with our performance over the last two quarters in a very difficult retail environment. We have proven that we can execute our strategies and react when the situation dictates. We believe our ability to execute and serve the functional needs of the Out Here customer will be the key differentiators as we manage through the fourth quarter.
Now I'd like to turn the call back to Jim.
James F. Wright
Thanks, Tony. Our performance throughout this year has been the result of our team's steadfast execution and our passion to serve those customers living the rural lifestyle, combined with our ability to rapidly analyze and adapt our plans to an ever-changing marketplace.
I'd like to spend a moment today discussing some of the actions we're taking to navigate the current environment as we head into the important winter and holiday selling period. Clearly consumers have been heavily impacted by the economic turmoil the last few months and all of the headlines point to this being one of the most difficult seasons in many years. Our store and store support center teams continue to fine tune our strategies for the season by analyzing the most recent consumer spending behaviors. We know it's essential for us to be responsive not only to yesterday's sales data but even more importantly to be proactive and anticipate where the consumer trends are going. To that end, we must remain nimble and forward-looking.
Entering the season, we focused our merchandise assortment of items that are very relevant to our customers' basic lifestyle needs. Our gift assortment for this season is focused on key basics and compelling values. Much of our gift assortment this year is basic in-line merchandise allowing us to limit markdown or carry over risk. We've also focused on offering a range of gift items at mid and lower price levels and we expect that this will be well received by our customers.
We maintain record in stock levels at this point in time and continue through the fourth quarter but while we will be able to continue reducing our overall inventory levels per store as part of our efforts to enhance working capital. We'll complement our merchandising strategies with advertising that features core consumables and compelling gifts to drive customer traffic and we believe we're well-positioned to effectively capture share of wallet.
All that said, our stores are in great shape. We're continuing to monitor our customer's spend behaviors closely and we are positioned to execute and to serve the unique needs of those living out here. At the same time we are not easing up on the aggressive expense management program that we initiated earlier in the year. We are operating today as a lean and efficient organization. We are rapidly approaching the end of the year and continue to look ahead. We remain committed to being a growth company.
Let me discuss a few of the fundamental long term drivers of our business that we expect will allow us to maximize our potential in 2009 and beyond. First is our store expansion. As Tony mentioned, we are being somewhat cautious with our near term growth plans given the uncertainty of 2009. We believe we are striking the right balance between positioning ourselves to seize potential opportunities and working through the current economic conditions. We anticipate opening around 91 stores this year and approximately 70 to 80 stores in 2009. However, we believe our long term target of 13% store growth will continue to be appropriate in a more normalized environment.
Again we strongly believe there is a significant long term opportunity to expand our store base overall. We have identified 1400 market opportunities and we believe that number will prove conservative over time. We've developed the right systems and processes that will allow us to operate as a much larger national team without losing our home town look and feel. We've also invested in our people from the store support center to the store level to ensure that we meet and exceed our customers' expectations. Based on our performance on our new stores we will continue to ramp up as planned. We see significant evidence that our model is working.
Second, we'll also grow through our mix of relevant products. Simply put, we are winning in both thriving and challenging economic cycles by staying true to who we are, a specialty retailer that understands the unique needs of those living the rural lifestyle. We know that our every day basic items combined with informed service will keep our customers returning to our stores even in the most difficult cycles. Our customers are committed to the rural lifestyle and that rural lifestyle continues to be aspirational. Those consumers have a lower cost of living and as a result they have stronger discretionary income and are less reliant on credit than the national average. They own smaller homes and they have smaller mortgages.
Most importantly, our consumers always have basic needs that support their chosen lifestyle. They need to feed their pets, contain their large animals, use chain saws to cut the firewood that heats their home. As we've stated in the past, we believe there are areas where we can expand our gross margin. For example, we continue to focus on strategic direct sourcing and increase our private label sales. Over the long term we target 13% of our sales from strategic sourcing and 25% of our sales for private label products. We also continue to gain margins through price optimization initiatives.
Third, we also have opportunities to improve the productivity of our inventory and supply chain. We have improved our inventory levels this year through more disciplined purchasing and by executing a strategic markdown program. We believe there are additional opportunities to increase the efficiencies in our supply chain by applying lean principles which we call Tractor Value System or TVS. We've also recently added 250,000 square feet to our distribution center in Waco Texas and our distribution network currently has adequate capacity to support our growth plans for the next three years.
Finally, our solid financial foundation provides us with the ability to maximize shareholder value while allowing us to maintain a firm commitment to investing in long term growth initiatives. We are very pleased to say we are in excellent standing with our lenders. We remain very well positioned financially for both near and long term. We continue to effectively manage our capital structure as evidenced by the strength of our balance sheet which carries no maturing debt until 2012.
To that end, I'd like to take a moment to thank our entire team for their hard work. Our team members are critical in responding to our customers' needs and they're doing an outstanding job. I'm proud of our team's execution and I'd especially like to thank those associates in hurricane affected areas who stepped up and did whatever it took.
This concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, we'd now like to open the call for questions.
Question-and-Answer Session
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from David Cumberland from Robert Baird.
David Cumberland - Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc.
On the plan to open 70 or 80 stores in '09 instead of 90, all else equal, would that have a slight benefit to '09 EPS versus opening 90 due to lower opening expenses?
Anthony F. Crudele
Yes, it should just have a slight benefit. We will obviously make that up in some of the pre-opening expenses. Generally since we have targeted a majority of these stores we'll maybe front load it this year and obviously the longer the store is open, the better they will perform throughout the year, so it should have a slight benefit.
David Cumberland - Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc.
Then in home heating, in the typical Q3, what percentage of the cold weather seasons sales of home heating are in that typical Q3 and then maybe what increase percentage did you see in this just past Q3?
Anthony F. Crudele
A little bit more difficult to answer and only because the analysis winds up being very subjective based on the trends that we saw. We tried to benchmark versus last year and tried to look at the seasonal pattern and then again since there's a lot of different assumptions that we use to try to track it, I'd rather not get into the specific details. We did see a significant trend of sales in the third quarter that generally we have not seen in the past and that ramp was a lot quicker and earlier in the third quarter which generally drives us to believe that some of those sales were pulled forward into the September and late August time frames. Other than that we can't give you too much more detail.
David Cumberland - Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc.
Can you comment on whether you see enough fall off in that category in early Q4?
James F. Wright
Generally our overall comment is that through October we have had generally the same trends as we've seen in September.
David Cumberland - Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc.
Then my last question, is historically on stores that have benefited from storm activity and sales of disaster relief items, what type of follow on business or increase in traffic in the customer base like those stores have seen in later periods?
James F. Wright
We've seen a bit of a step function in comp trend and average volume per week and David, it sticks with us. We believe it's principally the fact that customers previously not aware of shopping Tractor Supply are exposed not only to the service but to the assortment that the store holds, but it's certainly not a double digit kind of a number. Historically it's a mid single kind of a step function for the stores that are most significantly involved and then that goes... the further out the less more evolved they were with hurricane response, the less significant that function becomes.
Your next question comes from John Lawrence from Morgan Keegan.
John Lawrence - Morgan Keegan
Jim, would you start off by talking just a little bit about private label for holiday, how much is inventory up for both Schmidt and for Red Shed going into the holiday?
Gregory A. Sandfort
John, I'll answer that. Red Shed is actually slightly down. We had some earnings from last year and we have tuned up those assortments, I'll use that terminology, so it's slightly down, but Schmidt is up double digit. Schmidt continues to perform. It's a terrific alternative to the brands that sit above it. It continues to sell across the board in every category that we have it places, so you'll see an increase there.
Your next question comes from David Magee with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Analyst for David Magee - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey
Hi this is Chris. First question is just with your clearance activity and third quarter. Can you say whether that was generally on plan? You mentioned some seasonal items that drove that activity and I was just wondering if there were any particular categories that were maybe weaker than you expected.
James F. Wright
For the most part it was a little accelerated from a historic level of clearance activities. There were several test initiatives, most significantly those involved in our My Garage initiative, also the Master Hand tool brand. While we had some successful learning in My Garage and we were able to take a few lines and some SKUs and merchandise chainwide, on the overall, I guess it was a failed concept and we are moving and have already moved some of that merchandise out of the store through markdown processes. Additionally we also chose to launch the Master Hand brand of private branded power tools and hand tools a little over a year ago, actually coming up on two years, and we've determined that we pretty much overshot the price value proposition that our customers would be attracted to, so we built too much into the product and we are now again moving through that product.
Beyond that, it was perhaps a normalized environment with a little more rigor placed around the slowest selling product and a little more rigor around the regionality of inventory.
Analyst for David Magee - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey
Okay, and then secondly, can you describe what sort of advertising venues you're focused on for the holiday period?
James F. Wright
We will see an equal number of print events as with last year with a more compelling assortment of both product and price point. We will shift some TV spending to our CRM effort and ultimately through direct mail as we continue to gain expertise with CRM and continue to increase the number of attributed sales.
Your next question comes from Jack Murphy from William Blair.
Jack Murphy – William Blair & Company
First, if you look at the comps excluding the hurricane in September in particular, was the traffic and ticket roughly similar to the first couple of months and can you just talk about the trend line across the three months for consumables in particular?
Anthony F. Crudele
Generally we saw throughout the quarter that it was fairly consistent from both the consumables and from a traffic standpoint. As I mentioned in my points, comps were a little bit stronger in July, and September's strength was driven by the hurricanes, but throughout the quarter we felt that the trend was relatively consistent for both traffic and consumables.
Jack Murphy – William Blair & Company
I'd just like to follow up on the real estate question from earlier and the comments you made. You talked about rationing down to 70 or 80 stores because of financing with developers and the like. But given the fact that real estate for retail is likely to continue to soften, it's already softening a lot, would you consider being opportunistic as you move throughout the year and that sites are kind of coming up, these second use sites are coming up that you would consider getting to 13% for '09?
James F. Wright
The overall kind of macro retail real estate trends are not impacting our markets or our size boxes nearly to the level that you might imagine. The further from the mall, the further from the urban/suburban areas you get, the less of a trend that is. Frankly, Wal-Mart's slowing growth is also ultimately... will dry up a little bit of the pipeline for us as we fairly frequently will use the garden shop end of a Wal-Mart when they move to a super center, so thus far we have not seen a significant change in cost or increase in availability. Obviously with our balance sheet we... and our pipeline of capable store manager trainees, we have some dry powder should that situation change.
Your next question comes from Peter Benedict from Wachovia.
Peter Benedict - Wachovia Capital Markets
Just a couple things. First of all on the fourth quarter, it sounds like the range that's implied for comps is pretty wide but it sounds like from your comments that at least so far you're running up in that low to mid single digit range, but you're saying that October is the easiest comparison? I just wanted to clarify that.
James F. Wright
October is the easiest, November is the toughest. At this point in time it looks like the model's working, customers are responding, obviously when the news was the darkest they changed behavior for two or three days but they have subsequently returned to the stores.
Peter Benedict - Wachovia Capital Markets
On the inflation front, Tony, maybe you can talk a little bit about how much inflation is impacting the comp. You kind of mentioned it last quarter. Is it getting stronger? And when did you first start to see it? As we look to '09, when do we start to anniversary the real lift of comps that came from price inflation?
Anthony F. Crudele
It clearly has been staggered throughout the year and we've seen it ramp each quarter. We definitely in the third quarter are running above what we saw in the second quarter and I think as we continue to have our moving average cost ramp up we will continue to see that retail move along with it. We do expect to have some relief and we've seen some relief over the past few weeks on some of the commodity price increases. It will be some time before that translates through our moving average cost and/or the vendors translate that back into lower prices. I would anticipate starting to anniversary more at the end of the first quarter next year. That's when we started to see it more significantly impact the retail prices.
Peter Benedict - Wachovia Capital Markets
Okay, that's fair, then as you think about SG&A next year, what type of comp you'd need to kind of leverage that number. I know the occupancy trends are supposed to get a lot better next year. Can you just talk about how we should be thinking about that?
James F. Wright
Generally in the past we've said about 4.5 is the comp number we'd like to leverage with our expense control this year and the sustainability of that program through next year. I would anticipate that we are closer to 4, potentially 3.5, I don't want to get overly aggressive or ahead of ourselves but I would say somewhere in that range we can achieve leverage. Depending on the quarter. First quarter will always be very difficult for us to leverage since it's such a light sales quarter.
Peter Benedict - Wachovia Capital Markets
You said that you do expect to leverage SG&A in the fourth quarter, is that right?
James F. Wright
Yes slightly.
Your next question comes from Dan Wewer with Raymond James.
Dan Wewer - Raymond James
Jim, did you not get the memo we're in a recession?
James F. Wright
Were you at the manager's meeting when I told them we would not participate? They believed me, and they're doing a terrific job. I think frankly we anticipated early, we reacted early, laid our plans. We're also fortunate in that I really believe and we have data to support this that our customers have lived in their houses for a long time, they are truly smaller houses, their mortgages are smaller and more mature and our customers' credit are debt-conservative. We are well-positioned.
Dan Wewer - Raymond James
Question I had, maybe as far as Greg, question relating to the clearance activity. I was a bit surprised given you entered the third quarter with lean inventories. Obviously sales were strong during the period as well. If you could just give a little clarification as to why the clearance would have increased year-over-year.
Anthony F. Crudele
Well a couple of reasons. The main is, and what Jim referred to in the My Garage category. We made a decision that we had learned enough from the test. It was time to move on problem merchandise, so that's the primary reason, that is the primary driver. We also to be honest put in some new tracking and planning tools to ensure that we would sell clean through the third and fourth quarter on seasonal and we've identified early on some things that weren't working to our satisfaction so we acted on those as well. It's quite simple actually, it's a combination of several things, but it's just really us addressing an issue and also staying on top of the business.
Dan Wewer - Raymond James
Is that a... the idea of taking the markdowns earlier, is that something we would likely see for the next two or three quarters?
James F. Wright
That's part of our forward planning, yes. In the seasonal categories, absolutely. We want to sell cleaner. We believe that there's an opportunity for us to transition a little faster than we have been but again it's part of what we already projected and forecasted for.
Dan Wewer - Raymond James
Tony, you had alluded to diesel price still higher year-over-year as one of the reasons why margin could be lowered in 4Q but is that still true given what's happened in the last 7 to 10 days or are you expecting a bit of a rebound with the idea of that diesel cost will be higher?
Anthony F. Crudele
We did our projection within the last week and we used the current diesel price at that point in time. Generally not forecasting up or down, just using the current trend.
Dan Wewer - Raymond James
Just two other real quick questions. One, what is the rate of inflation in pet food and then the other also related to merchandising, apparel. Most other soft line retailers are struggling. I know this is a category you've added space in the last couple of years. How would you evaluate your performance in soft lines?
James F. Wright
We won't speak specifically to inflation in pet food. We do believe it's going to moderate as inputs come down and with regard to apparel side of the business, we never claimed that we sold anything that was fashionable and I'm really glad we are not. We sell basic functional work wear and frankly quarter by quarter are getting better at planning an allocation by size, by climatic zone, and I think we're really extremely well positioned right now.
Your next question comes from [Shawn DeSoro] from Black Rock.
[Shawn DeSoro] – Black Rock
Just a couple quick questions and I apologize if I missed it. Did you quantify the basis point drag from the clearance activity in the quarter?
James F. Wright
No we did not. When we look at that activity, a lot of it either blended into the initial margin, some of it identified up front as a longer term potential markdown so we did not quantify it.
[Shawn DeSoro] – Black Rock
And then in terms of inventory per store, where can we go over time, over a couple year period. Is it possible that this gets into the low eights or maybe even 800 a store is that probably something too much to ask for?
James F. Wright
I think we'll continue for another probably 3 or 4 quarters to see some incremental gain over time. We'll see turnover, inventory efficiency continue to increase but frankly we're excited about the fact that we have some successful test programs that we'll begin investing in to further drive top line. So when we look at absolute dollars per store I would think that we are near the bottom of that curve. Again, continue to see some gain for a while but then we will begin to re-invest and drive the top line as our tests gains traction.
[Shawn DeSoro] – Black Rock
So we'll see probably more in the turn column going forward.
Your next question comes from Stephen Chick of FBR.
Stephen Chick - Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co.
I guess first off maybe for Tony, the aggressive expense management program, can you.. Is there a way you could maybe assign some type of number on how much that's saving SG&A dollars, and I know you gave the example of the lower attendance, I think you said at a meeting in one less day, is it really just a lot of little things like that, or is there other things you can point to that's helping with expenses?
Anthony F. Crudele
Generally it is a lot of little things. I would say the largest function is really at the store level in our payroll management and we just had much tighter control in that area and obviously it's one of the larger expense line items outside of the occupancy in SG&A so a good portion of the expense control I would attribute to that, however, on sort of more the traditional G&A side of the SG&A. It's been really just a lot of little things.
Stephen Chick - Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co.
So if you leveraged SG&A I think you said 70 basis points in the quarter, is there a way to assign kind of a basis point benefit to these little things in total, like what part of 70 basis points would you say came from this aggressive push on expenses?
Anthony F. Crudele
It would be difficult to quantify but I would identify that relative to our original forecast at the beginning of the year, it makes up a substantial portion of the benefit that we derived as we moved across the year.
Stephen Chick - Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co.
And can you remind me, I apologize, did the initiative to that start at the beginning of the second quarter, is that correct?
Anthony F. Crudele
Basically in the middle to last month of the first quarter.
Stephen Chick - Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co.
And then second, if I could, really just to clarify on your comp store sales guidance that the flat to positive 2% for the year, what does that kind of imply what you're looking for for the fourth quarter? I'm coming up with that mathematically implies something that would be I think like flattish as a reported number in the fourth quarter. I don't know if my math is correct or not.
James F. Wright
Generally when we looked at it, it is a fairly wide range. What we're implying is that we believe that if you looked at the entire year, we're tracking relatively consistent with the initial guidance and would expect to continue to track at slightly lower than what we've seen over the past two quarters.
Your next question comes from Mitch Kaiser from Piper Jaffray.
Mitch Kaiser - Piper Jaffray
Two quick questions for you, I guess both for Tony. Just as it relates to the LIFO charge that we've seen pop up here in the last two quarters, so it's a 42 basis point drag in Q2 and then 24 in Q3. Did you quantify what your expectations might be as of today? How might it impact Q4?
Anthony F. Crudele
We did not identify that in the forecast. Obviously it's blended into my guidance when it comes to margin and again the freight component and the LIFO are the two largest. As far as the drag on gross margin in the fourth quarter did not specify the percentage on either one of those components. We do expect that LIFO will moderate slightly over what we've seen during the past two quarters.
Mitch Kaiser - Piper Jaffray
I think in past quarters you were using a full year share count of 38.5 million which was excluding new share repurchases. Is that still the full year share count that you're using in your guidance?
Anthony F. Crudele
No, we update that share guidance as to what the actual was at the end of a particular quarter. Obviously at the end of this third quarter. We do not assume any share repurchases go forward in our estimate.
Mitch Kaiser - Piper Jaffray
So you're at 37.1 basically going forward through the rest of the year?
Anthony F. Crudele
Your next question comes from Joan Storms from Wedbush.
Joan Storms - Wedbush Morgan
This is a question probably for Greg. Now that I think you first started probably halfway through the fourth quarter last year and what your take is on Jim had a very good discussion on the holiday inventory assortment and how you've planned that as far as seasonal goods since that [inaudible] to be weak and what are maybe some inputs that you had on the thought process there?
Gregory A. Sandfort
Joan, I started last year the first of November so I was here a little bit more than halfway through the fourth and let me give you a little quick recap on what I think we've done. First of all from a planning standpoint and from a delivery standpoint we've done a far better job this year flowing product through the stores. We've still got room for improvement but I felt much more comfortable this year than last year with the flow. The second thing is on our allocation side of the business which is critical and in any seasonal business. The read and react strategy in seasonal is where you win. You lose when you allocate too much of that product up front so we have been reeling that backward a little bit and saying, "Listen, how much of this can we hold and not allocate it till we start seeing some forward sales?"
We've done a number of things to assist ourselves this year with that process and that makes us also feel very strong about what we think our sell through rates will be and how we'll come out of the fourth quarter. So the biggest risk for us is always the heavyweight outerwear and whether or not we'll get that ferocious winter that we need from say the upper midwest through the northeast. Everything that we've seen so far from [Aplatalytics] who we've used to forecast some of this tells just what weather will continue so we're feeling very good about it. The last thing would be the gift assortment. Jim touched on earlier but we really mind our own current basic assortment products and said one of the things that our consumers will buy, we know that the economy is tightening, so how can we take those products and highlight those in the stores the fourth quarter, pass on some advantageous pricing and really drive those as gifts, and if you'll be in our stores in the fourth quarter, you'll see that, you'll note that, we have those called out, and we feel very, very good now given the economic conditions where we're positioned.
Your next question comes from Andrew Wolf with BB&T Capital Markets.
Andrew Wolf - BB&T Capital Markets
Kind of a follow up to that answer. Can you give us the relative sales mix in the fourth quarter that is apparel and seasonal? I now you gave us on an annual basis but could you give us a sense of the index to the annual number or the actual number for apparel and seasonal?
Anthony F. Crudele
We don't' have that number for you right now and we can have Randy circle back with you on that. Obviously overall for the year is 9%, I would estimate that it's probably in the 12% range but I would rather wait until Randy gives you an exact number.
Andrew Wolf - BB&T Capital Markets
Does seasonal index higher too because of gift giving or is that just really... It's so high in the second quarter that we shouldn't think of it that way?
James F. Wright
Seasonal is definitely highest in second quarter followed by fourth but fourth is only marginally higher than third.
Andrew Wolf - BB&T Capital Markets
Also in reference to the last answer, my follow up is Jim, in the press release you talked about specific steps you're taking and maybe I didn't listen well but it sounded like in your discussion up until this last answer we didn't quite hear that, but should we look at it as essentially you got a windfall if you will from the hurricanes in that business, yet you didn't raise your guidance, and as we look at your plan, not your relative conservatism and obviously that's prudent in this economy, just as we look at your plan, did you basically look at what's going on and say, "We have to get a little more promotional vis a vi our customers in various ways", is that essentially the plan side of it?
James F. Wright
I would say that on a year-over-year basis, we will be more promotional but we are not going to be what I would classify as promotional as I suspect some other retailers might become. We have principally benefited over the years as we've evolved into an every day competitive price value price strategy with occasional sales. We have 15 print events a year and print plus the direct mail we're doing now are the only ways that we communicate an off price. So we are not increasing the frequency of print. We are marginally increasing the promotional flavor to our ads, but that has as much to do with the type of products, the consumables and lower price point products than it does with dropping the price of those products, if that answers your question.
Andrew Wolf - BB&T Capital Markets
Yes it does.
We have reached the allotted time for questions. I would now like to turn the call back over to management for closing remarks.
James F. Wright
Thank you all very much. I'm glad you're with us on this trip. I'm extremely proud of every member of the 1400 team here at Tractor Supply. We asked them to do different things starting in mid Q1. We asked them to do things differently and they at every level have done that. I would remind you that the performance this quarter, I guess the last two quarters, and frankly year-to-date are a testament to the fact that we have a unique customer. We serve a unique and I think more viable somewhat economic isolated market, and we have a model of resilience in the cycle that we are going through. Again, thank you for being along on the trip and we remain a growth company. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our conference call for today. You may all disconnect and thank you for participating.
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Creeper Survival – How many waves of creepers can you survive?
Creeper Survival – What is it?
Creeper Survival is a map where their are spawns of creepers above you, your objective is to kill them all and clear each wave out. As you progress through each wave, it becomes harder with more and more creepers dropping down on you. Each three waves that you clear, you get credits and are able to buy weapons, food, potions, armor, etc. to help you survive. Survive as many waves as you can with the items you've bought throughout the game. You can also create a server and play with your friends, but be warned, some of the mechanics might not work because of how the server runs and its connection. Make sure that animals and monsters are on, their also might be problems with the spawning in multiplayer.
Prerequisites of this Map
Some maps also have objectives. Here's the objectives of this map:
- Survive through the waves of creepers as they get harder each round the game progresses
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Now for some screenshots of the map.
Screenshots of this Map
Here are some screenshots showcasing the map:
Videos of this Map
Here is a video showing what the map does.
Now you might want to know how to install the map.
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- Extract the map into a folder.
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Richard L. Zoller
Richard L. Zoller, 68, of Marietta, died Thursday (May 2, 2013).
He was born Jan. 4, 1945, in Marietta, to Ralph and Pauline Holdren Zoller. He had retired from NAPA Auto Parts. Dick was a member of St. Mary Catholic Church. He loved golfing, woodworking, and spoiling his grandchildren.
Dick is survived by his wife, Patricia Schaad Zoller; four sons, Brian (Tammy) of Marietta, Brad (Melissa) of Marietta, Keith (Kim) of Clyde, and Phillip (Lauren) of Marietta; eight grandchildren; two brothers, Steve (Karen) and Dave (Donna), all of Marietta; a sister, Janet Schaad (Larry) of Lowell; and many nieces and nephews.
Preceded in death by parents; sister, Peggy Schaad; and brother, Bill.
Funeral liturgy, with Mass, will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday (May 4, 2013) at St. Mary Catholic Church with the Rev. Msgr. John Michael Campbell as celebrant. Visitation will be at the Marietta Chapel of Cawley & Peoples Funeral Home on Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. Burial will be in New St. Mary Cemetery.
Online condolences may be sent to www.cawleyandpeoples.com


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Sadvansha Munshi
Sadvansha Munshi Poems
- Being Ignored Being ignored can be the worse memory ever It ...
- Love Was Only Virtually True Saw you today Trying to ...
- I, Unleal? Is it up to me? Why do feelings change? I just...
- ~don'T Ask God~ He doesn't help a caterpillar to turn into a ...
- Erotomania - Delusional Enamo... Succour was needed He came ...
- Fly I Just Want To Fly Real High In The Sky Can You Hear, ...
- In Memory Of Her.. She was just like an angel, And now she ...
Hey all.... Poetry is like my diary. Each and every poem has a story behind it. They were my emotions for a moment.. Don't hate them if you can't get it. Just inbox me what you don't like about me instead of hitting the dislike button in the corner anonymously.. That would be a great help... more »
Click here to add this poet to your My Favorite Poets.
Quotationsmore quotations »
''Never stop doing hard work when you hear people say 'you have done good enough.' Do the hard work till that extent until you hear them call you a 'legend.'''hard work, legend
''Damage is not only physical. It can be mental too.''damage, hurt
''My shyness if often mistaken as rudeness.''shyness
''The people who are underestimated always get successful but only when they don't underestimate themselves.''Underestimate
Comments about Sadvansha Munshimore comments »
Yash Shinde
Sadvansha, a.k.a. our dear Spriha is a poet, accustomed to various themes, she has immense talent and scope for growth and development, what surprises me is her maturity and the poems she has penned at this tender age....
Vishal Sharma
Sadvansha Munshi, I am just above the height of flattery when I was writing this.....! ! !
Your talent is ®.The way you use your pen in such a tender age, Hats off lil angel.......! ! !
Just move ahead and continue writing masterpiece,
The day you publish your book, I would be the first one to spend my bucks on dat...! !
Happy journey in the world of poetry.....
You have the capability to make a sad face smile angel.....
Sagar Jakhodia
Very Nice Poemz.. Keep it up... ^_^ Dil Garden Garden Ho Gya Padh Ke..: P ^_^
Being Ignored
Being ignored can be the worse memory ever
It is the past which can never be good but bad
The warm atmosphere even feels cold while you shiver
Sitting alone thinking about what you had
Being ignored is the worse feeling in the world
Specially when your friends makes you go through it
The feeling is so frazzled
And all day by yourself you sit
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Feeling: So grotesque and unwanted
All of this can be so stressful
Like your life has for forever been grounded
Being ignored is worse than being lonely
If staying alone is ...
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Classic Poets
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Acronyms that contain the term hoo
What does hoo mean? This page is about the various possible meanings of the acronym, abbreviation, shorthand or slang term: hoo.
We've found a total of 2 shorthands for hoo:
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- Hoo
- see Ho
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"hoo." Abbreviations.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2016. Web. 7 Dec. 2016. <http://www.abbreviations.com/hoo>.


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Welcome Catholic Moms! › Forums › Marriage Forum › Recovering from an affair › Re: Recovering from an affair
Dear Jeska,
First of all, I am glad you found us. It is important to have a support system.
I am so sorry for what you are/have gone through. You are not alone. Sexual Addictions are becoming rampant… especially with the availability of anything you want at any time you want on the internet. There is a book that I really recommend that you read, "An Affair of the Mind" – By Laurie Hall. She is an amazing woman who went through what you are describing. The book might help you to get some insight on what you should do.
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I'm so sorry that you are feeling so much pain and confusion right now.
God bless you. Please feel free to post back at any time. I will be praying for you. < >
CatholicMoms, moderator


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The following suggestions are for law students and recent graduates who are seeking law clerking or entry level attorney positions. An experienced attorney who is preparing a resume for a lateral move should list legal experience before academic background. For the experienced attorney, legal experience/work history now becomes the prime credential for a prospective employer.
- Use your formal name. If you are generally called by your nickname, this can be indicated by signing your cover letter using your nickname.
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If you have not yet graduated, an assumed objective is a law clerk position. If you have graduated and passed the bar, the assumed objective is an attorney position. If, however, you have an interest in one very specific area and nothing else, indicate that as an Objective on your resume. The Objective is vital when applying for nonlegal positions. It is appropriate to simply state the position title.
Admission to bar
If you have recently passed a state bar exam and have been sworn in to practice, you should indicate that fact on your resume. After a relevant heading, indicate "Passed Arkansas Bar Exam, February 2011″ or "Awaiting Admission to Arkansas State Bar" or "Licensed, State of Arkansas, February 2011." It is not essential to include this category. Most attorneys will assume that you are licensed or will be shortly and view this category as unnecessary.
List the schools you attended in reverse chronological order with UALR William H. Bowen School of Law first. For your law school entry, list your expected date of graduation and additional relevant information. Class rank and GPA are obvious selling points if your GPA is 3.0 or higher. Of course, not listing it indicates the probability that your GPA is less than 3.0. If you're borderline (2.9, 2.8), you may want to list it. For undergraduate and other graduate degrees, be sure to include the month and year these degrees were conferred and the specific degree received. Academic performance in undergraduate or other graduate education should follow the same guidelines as for law school.
If your cumulative grade point average is not outstanding, but you have a top paper, or your grades in a few specific courses are strong, list these courses. If your Legal Research or Reasoning, Writing and Advocacy grades have been consistently high, indicate that. If you are applying in a specialized area of law practice, list the relevant courses to show an employer that you have studied in this area.
List academic honors, such as Bowen Fellow, and extracurricular activities such as Law Review or Moot Court, and indicate your capacity. When listing student organizations and associations, always list the full name, not initials (i.e., Student Bar Association (SBA) and office(s) held). This not only fully identifies the organization, but looks more impressive. Be sure to list honors and activities under the school at which they were achieved. In general, list these items rather than write them in paragraph form.
Always list first the assets that are your greatest selling points for the position, but do not overload. This is true for undergraduate as well as other advanced degrees. Excellence in academics before law school is worth noting, but be selective. You do not want to overshadow your law-related experiences.
Do not list the high school you attended unless that high school has a national reputation or there is some other major significance associated with your high school experience (i.e., you were an exchange student in a country where you now have professional interests).
Experienced attorneys – Remember that this category follows the "Legal Experience" category on your resume.
If you have written a law-related article that has been or is about to be published, list it immediately after the education section. Be sure to use an accurate citation. If the articles are not law-related, list them under a Publications heading towards the end of your resume, after Work Experience.
Legal experience
Legal positions should also be listed in reverse chronological order. Include all jobs that are relevant to your legal training, including volunteer, externship, and internship positions. Give the name of the firm or company, city, and state. State your job title – Law Clerk, Research Assistant, Judicial Extern, etc. Briefly describe your activities/accomplishments. Use action words as much as possible to describe your accomplishments (e.g., supervised, interviewed, analyzed, researched, drafted, organized). This is preferable to saying, "Responsibilities included…" Avoid using the word "duties." List substantive areas of law with which you have dealt, types of legal documents which you've drafted, and your relevant accomplishments.
Dates of employment may either be stated at the end of the description or in the left hand column of the resume. Do not state salary or reasons for leaving.
Experienced attorneys – Remember that this section should be first on your resume. Your legal experience is of prime importance in future job considerations.
Additional professional experience
This category can be used if you have had a previous non-legal career or you are presently employed as a professional in a non-legal field. Listing these types of jobs separately allows the employer to note at a glance your legal versus non-legal experience. These positions should be listed in the same manner as the legal jobs. Dates of employment should be listed in a consistent manner with those under Legal Experience. Keep in mind that listing dates in the left hand margin highlights them, which may not be an asset if the experience dates back too many years or there are significant gaps in your work history. Again, use action words to describe your accomplishments. However, be as concise as possible. By elaborating in tremendous detail your many responsibilities and accomplishments in another career, you might relay a message of preference for that career over one in law.
Other work experience
This category includes employment, other than legal, that is not at a professional level. Part-time and summer jobs such as waitress, store clerk, camp counselor, etc., can be put in this category but only if you lack other work experience. You should use your judgment as to whether this adds anything to your resume. First-year students in particular may want to use this category because you lack significant job experience in the legal arena. In any event, the jobs can be handled simply by listing the job titles consecutively without reference to employer and without descriptions. A simple sentence such as "Various summer and part-time jobs to finance education, including…" will suffice. This will save space and account for a time period in your life.
Language proficiency, special skills, interests
Be sure to add any foreign language proficiency to your resume. Those in high demand, like Spanish, should be placed higher up in the resume after Education. Unusual or interesting hobbies, athletic abilities, and/or organizations in which you actively participate, may be included on your resume. These items can be listed paragraph-style so that they do not take up more than a couple of lines. Information of this sort may be interesting to smaller firms where common interests and compatibility are especially important. Additionally, some firms feel that outside activities are a good source for potential business. Other interests frequently serve as an opening for discussion at an interview.
Professional associations
Membership in professional organizations should be listed in this separate category. Always mention legal organizations first.
Writing sample available upon request
This phrase is sufficient at the bottom of a resume. Do not send a writing sample unless instructed to do so. If you are asked to submit a writing sample, select a research memo, brief, or other short legal research paper that is your best work, preferably related to the area of law that the job requires. Quality is more important than length. Most employers won't read beyond 5 to 10 pages. Know your writing sample and be prepared to discuss it. Bring a copy to the interview with you, but only offer it if asked. The writing sample should be free of markings, comments, grades, etc.
- Whether to list references is a controversial topic, but I suggest you list them. Generally, most potential employers do not contact your references until after they talk to you. To keep your resume as short and concise as possible, have a separate but optional "Reference Page" which lists 3 to 5 individuals. Be sure to include your identifying information (copied from your resume for visual consistency). Never list a reference without asking them in advance.
- Law faculty and legal employers are the best references. Undergraduate faculty members are also good references, as well as former employers. Definitely do not use relatives or friends. Be sure to include the reference's name, title, affiliation, address, phone number and email address, if known.
- For some graduating students and recent graduates, listing two or three references on the resume can be beneficial. If your resume lacks outstanding academic credentials and/or substantial legal or work experience, list those references who can best attest to class performance or work experience.
- As you progress in law school, you should begin to work towards three references among law professors, other legal professionals, politicians or business and civic leaders known in the legal community.
- Be sure to send a copy of your resume to each of your references.
- If references are not included, end your resume with "References available upon request," or to accommodate both references and the writing sample, "References and writing sample available upon request." While some experts consider this a non-essential addition to the resume, others see it as, in essence: "The end."
Confidentiality statement
If you are employed and are seeking a job change, you probably don't want your current employer to know that you are job hunting. It is appropriate to include a statement at the very bottom of the resume requesting that a prospective employer not contact a current employer: "It is requested that current employer not be contacted." Or, "Confidentiality with regard to present employer is requested." This message must also be included in the cover letter which is sent with the resume.


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Pavel Tchelitchew letter to Joseph Cornell, 1941 Oct. 10
Physical Details: Letter : 2 p. : handwritten.
Sender: Pavel Tchelitchew (1898-1957)
Recipient: Joseph Cornell (1903-1972)
Description: Tchelitchew apologizes for his delay in responding to a letter from Cornell, mentions a work he did of a turtle, and expresses his dislike for Hedy Lamarr, recommending that Cornell find a new obsession.
Forms part of: Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986, bulk 1939-1972
Rights Statement: Current copyright status is undetermined
Citation: Pavel Tchelitchew letter to Joseph Cornell, 1941 Oct. 10. Joseph Cornell papers, 1804-1986, bulk 1939-1972. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Digital ID: 12109
View all Image and Media Gallery items from the Joseph Cornell papers


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France to Fiji, Hawaii to Australia, Fanning spent his time between events searching for the best barrels in the world and scoring swells many of us would be lucky to see in a lifetime.
When asked to comment on one trip, Fanning said, "P-Pass is a beast of a wave. On that trip we got so shacked but also copped some heavy beatings too."
Now as the excitement builds for the commencement of the 2013 ASP World Champion Tour, Fanning is eager to start with a bang at his home break of Snapper Rocks. After finishing 3rd in 2012, Fanning is striving to put greater results on the board and claim a win on his home soil.
Enjoy a snap shot of Fanning doing what he does best.


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Stunning Photos of the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia's Pow Wow
Each year in September, the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia celebrates their annual pow wow on their ancestral lands in Surry County, Virginia.
Since receiving state recognition by the Commonwealth of Virginia back in February of 2010 along with two other tribes, the Cheroenhaka Nottoway and the Powhatan Patawomeck, the tribe of and their Chief Lynette Allston have had great reason to celebrate.
In addition to recognition in Virginia, the Nottoway Indian tribe of Virginia's pow wow has also been recognized for years as a pow wow of healing.
According to Chief Allston, "The first year we had the powwow, the MC called it the water powwow, because everybody was crying. People who had never been to a powwow that were in the stands were crying. That is a cleansing, and those are the types of things that we have experienced."
If you are interested in attending the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia's Powwow, visit their Website at http://nottowayindians.org
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|New Jersey Devils Alumni Association Scholarship
Interested student-athletes, their parents, coaches, athletic directors, and/or principals should contact the Devils office at (973) 757-6100 for an application, and a copy of the Official Rules or simply click the links below.
Newark, NJ – The New Jersey Devils Alumni Association named four student-athletes as recipients of the 2011 scholarships for college-bound hockey players. The announcement was made by the association's director, Bruce Driver.
Last year's winners were: Andrew Caracciolo, West Morris, NJ, West Morris Central High School/Villanova University; Tatum Coffey, Toms River, NJ, Toms River High School North/Pennsylvania State University; Daniel Guglielmo, Tenafly, NJ, Tenafly High School/The College of New Jersey; Brandon Nicodemo, Wyckoff, NJ, Ramapo High School/Fairfield University. Each recipient will receive a $2,500 scholarship to assist in their education at the college or university of their choice. The awards were presented at the NJSIAA scholarship luncheon on Sunday, May 15, 2011.
Winners were nominated by their athletic director or coach and complied with Scholarship Rules, which include the following criteria: through their most recent grading period, the applicant must have attained a high school cumulative grade point average of 2.5 (on a 4.0 grading system) or equivalent grade if the student's school uses a different grading system.
Additionally, the applicant must have shown a commitment to volunteer work and community service through continued participation in a variety of projects or community organizations. Community activities should reflect that the applicant is unselfishly "giving back" to society and that the applicant is motivated to serve. Each winner must be accepted for admission on a full-time matriculating basis to a two- or four-year academic program at an accredited post-secondary educational institution.
The alumni association was formed for the purposes of: bringing together former Devils' players to develop enjoyable civic activities and charitable fund raisers; participating in worthwhile charity/community service programs; and developing means to help promote amateur hockey. This marks the tenth year of the alumni association's scholarship program. For a copy of the Official Rules and further information, please contact the Devils at 973-757-6200.
|2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004


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The price of oil has fallen to its lowest in more than a year as a supply glut allows markets to shrug off concerns over the crisis in Ukraine and the impact of Islamist rebels in Iraq.
Brent crude fell in London by more than 2 per cent yesterday to $101.30, taking the price to its lowest level since June 2013, days after it had jumped amid fears of an escalation in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
The fall came as net long positions in crude hit a two-year low and the gross short on oil reach a record


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The problem with a breadless Gospel
"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works" –James 2:14
Blogger and author Jarrid Wilson writes from Armenia: "We cannot ignore the needs of those around us."
"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works" –James 2:14
Blogger and author Jarrid Wilson writes from Armenia: "We cannot ignore the needs of those around us."
On Day 3 of our Armenia Trip, blogger Anna Whiston-Donaldson reflects on meeting Aida, a mother of seven, and the warmth of her love for her family amidst hardship of winter.
After the World Vision Bloggers' first day in Armenia—visiting Etchmiatsin Cathedral and the genocide memorial—Addie Zierman reflects on the ways in which we bear witness to tragedy and poverty, and how we can respond to suffering.
The World Vision Bloggers are in Armenia!
Author, speaker, and blogger Matthew Paul Turner kicks us off with a reflection on the story of Noah's Ark, Armenia's long and complex history, and his hopes for this trip.
Our Armenia Bloggers Trip starts this week!
Join us on our journey to the land of Noah and of second chances as we explore how World Vision tackles the root causes of poverty in this ancient Christian nation … and during the cold, bitter winter.
Last fall, photographer and storyteller Branden Harvey traveled with our Advocacy team to visit our maternal and child health programs in Zimbabwe!
Today's photoblog captures his journey and the "secretly incredible people" he met along the way.
Today is World Radio Day!
See how "Obbanywa," a World Vision-produced radio program in Uganda, helps to train volunteer village health team members to identify and treat deadly diseases like malaria!
Elizabeth in Zambia is the matriarch of her family. But this grandmother's primary role isn't only to love and dote on them … she's their provider. And for the past few years, she has struggled.
Through her church and a variety of World Vision programs, Elizabeth can now show her love to her family through food, education, health, and a life transformed out of poverty!
"Armenia has one of the most imbalanced sex ratios at birth in the world." (UNFPA)
In Armenia, World Vision is working with men, women, and youth in the promotion of gender equality and prevention of prenatal sex selection.
Yeva Avakyan, our senior advisor for gender and formerly on staff with our office in Armenia, describes prenatal sex selection and how World Vision addresses this issue.
13-year-old Oujelan. Ghaziyye and her twin girls. 4-year-old Saad, who's forgotten how to play—these are some of the faces that have stayed with today's writer, Lauren Fisher, who visited Lebanon a year ago.
Today, Lauren reflects on the people she met and celebrates the ways that World Vision's work with the Syrian refugees has helped them and many more, and continues.
World Vision's Sevil Omer recently traveled to the Middle East, serving with our Syria crisis response, based in Amman, Jordan. She shares insights and the latest from our work providing winter relief to the most vulnerable affected by Syria's conflict: Children.
Join us as we partner with One Day's Wages to double your ability to help children and families displaced by conflict in Syria and Iraq! For every dollar you give to One Day's Wages' World Vision campaign, they will match, up to $50,000.
This week, we're partnering with One Day's Wages to double your ability to help children and families displaced by conflict in Syria and Iraq! For every dollar you give to One Day's Wages' World Vision campaign, they will match, up to $50,000.
Today, read where the past four years of crisis have taken the people of Syria and World Vision's journey to assist them, then give and watch it be doubled!
Today, Dr. Greg Allgood—World Vision USA vice president for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene—reflects on a recent trip to the village of Duke in Malawi.
See how clean water transformed the lives of the people of Duke, from "I didn't think we were going to make it" to "a little piece of paradise"!
Our writer/photographer team Kari and Jon are in Rwanda this week! On Tuesday, they met 11-year-old Moses, an orphan who was brought back from the brink of death by milk.
See how cows and a pay-it-forward spirit are helping to transform Rwandan communities and young lives.
Pastor, author, and founder of The Justice Conference, Ken Wytsma writes today about the phrase "theology of justice," which means that "our understanding of God should compel justice."
Does this mandate from God also include social justice?
After losing a child, and even after childbirth, mothers need time to heal. In Zimbabwe, they don't always get that time, which endangers their health and the health of their families.
Guest blogger Diana Stone writes today about her recent World Vision trip to visit mothers and children in Zimbabwe and to see how World Vision is working to keep them healthy!
Bellanda was 10 years old when the 2010 earthquake struck Haiti. Afterward, she and her family are still able to pursue their big dreams for the future:
"I want to be a children's doctor one day because I like babies," Bellanda said.
See how World Vision's programs in the quake's aftermath set this family on the road to recovery.
Last summer, #1 bestselling author Debbie Macomber traveled to Kenya as the spokesperson for World Vision's Knit For Kids program to help hand out hand-knitted gifts of love!
For Debbie, knitting is more than an amazing way to help children around the world … it's also personal. Read her story!
Today is Christmas in Armenia!
The land where Noah's Ark came to rest after the flood in Genesis, Armenia has long been a land of second chances. See how today, Armenia is getting a second chance after the fall of communism, and how World Vision is helping through child sponsorship and more.
A New Year … a new you! What are your resolutions for 2015?
Check out ten ways that running with Team World Vision can help transform your life!


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Using iPhoto to Catalogue Illustrations
I'm a bit of an organization freak… love labeling my artfiles, archiving my artwork in nicely wrapped packages, and keeping track in a spreadsheet the status of my illustrations (i.e. Sold, Available, Copyright ownership, Royalties earned on each, etc). That being said, a spreadsheet has its lacks in that it's just a bunch of text, and colour coding is a pretty limited way of visually organizing the images. I wanted something visual and searchable.
So I don't know why I didn't think earlier of using iPhoto to create a visual, searchable catalogue of my illustrations… and since that epiphany, I'm in illustration cataloguing heaven!
What I love in particular is the tagging feature… I've probably created 2 dozen tags to describe the medium (watercolour, pencil, oil,) style (whimsical, traditional), subject matter (christmas, animals, wedding), year created, and clients for my illustrations. As I add new illustrations, I tag them (see below).
That way if I'm quoting for a client who is interested in my floral illustrations, I just do a search for "floral" (shown below) and all my illustrations tagged with "floral" pop up and I can quickly browse through to find what I need.
As well as the tagging options, you can rate your illustrations with a star system… pretty cool if you're wanting to browse just what you deem is your best work for your portfolio. And like most photo programs, you can create albums… I've got a Portfolio album, so I can quickly browse through that for my best work when sending samples & quotes to clients.


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Fiscal Bankruptcy
Cheaper to Kill Them?
Hattip to Guy Benson at Hot Air. An argument that has been part of the pro-abort playbook since Roe is that abortion reduces welfare costs:
The CBO has also concluded that aborting babies at 20 weeks or later in pregnancy saves money for the government-run federal-state Medicaid system. The CBO made these determinations when doing its official "Cost Estimate" of a federal bill that would prohibit abortions at 20 weeks or later into pregnancy (except in cases of reported rape, incest against a minor or to save the life of the mother). "Because the costs of about 40 percent of all births are paid for by the Medicaid program, CBO estimates that federal spending for Medicaid will rise to the extent that enacting H.R. 1797 results in additional births and deliveries relative to current law," says CBO. "H.R. 1790 would result in increased spending for Medicaid," says CBO. "Since a portion of Medicaid is paid for by state governments, CBO estimates that state spending on the program would increase by about $170 million over the 2014-2023 period. Continue reading
Why the West is Bankrupt
John Hinderaker over at Powerline has a story from The Sun that helps explain why the West is bankrupt:
Ms. Belova could find work if she wanted to, but it isn't worth her while. She is too well-educated, she thinks, to accept a low-paying job:
She is careful to work fewer than 16 hours a week so that the benefits keep rolling in. But her wages boost her income to more than £400 a week. On top of that she gets free childcare, fruit and milk vouchers — and even a clothes allowance for "job interviews". Natalija said: "It is a strange system in this country. Basically, the fewer hours I work, the more I can earn on benefits. But that's the way it is and it is not my fault." She fell pregnant by an "on-off boyfriend" after her redundancy. Natalija said casually: "We decided not to stay together." She insisted she would be prepared to get a full-time job — but only if the salary tops £25,000. Natalija said: "I am a highly educated woman and I speak six languages. I would never apply for a supermarket checkout job or a cleaner. "I am over-qualified. These jobs are beneath me. They are for people who don't have the education I do."