Well, the year is nearly half over, so it is time to check in on the investments.  As far as stock holdings/purchases, I have seen the following year-to-date returns as of Friday’s close (without counting dividends): Idear (IAR):  +26.1% Verizon (VZ):  +13.9% Merck (MRK):  +13.1% AT&T (T): +10.4% HP (HPQ):  +6.7% Microsoft (MSFT): -0.6% Johnson…