This I Believe

From the NPR Radio Show – “This I Believe“.

I believe in barbecue. As soul food and comfort food and health food, as a cuisine of both solace and celebration. When I’m feeling good, I want barbecue. And when I’m feeling bad, I just want barbecue more. I believe in barbecue in all its regional derivations, in its ethnic translations, in forms that range from white-tablecloth presentations of cunningly sauced costillas, to Chinese take-out spareribs that stain your fingers red, to the most authentic product of the tarpaper rib shacks of the Deep South. I believe that like sunshine and great sex, no day is bad that has barbecue in it.(can I get an amen)

I believe in the art of generations of pit men working in relative obscurity to keep alive the craft of slow smoking as it’s been practiced for as long as there’s been fire. A barbecue cook must have an intimate understanding of his work: the physics of fire and convection, the hard science of meat and heat and smoke — and then forget it all to achieve a sort of gut-level, Zen instinct for the process.

I believe that barbecue drives culture, not the other way around. Some of the first blows struck for equality and civil rights in the Deep South were made not in the courtrooms or schools or on buses, but in the barbecue shacks. There were dining rooms, backyards and roadhouse juke joints in the South that were integrated long before any other public places.

I believe that good barbecue requires no decor, and that the best barbecue exists despite its trappings. Paper plates are okay in a barbecue joint. And paper napkins. And plastic silverware. And I believe that any place with a menu longer than can fit on a single page — or better yet, just a chalkboard — is coming dangerously close to putting on airs.

I believe that good barbecue needs sides the way good blues need rhythm, and that there is only one rule: Serve whatever you like, but whatever you serve, make it fresh. Have someone’s mama in the back doing the “taters” and hush puppies and sweet tea, because Mama will know what she’s doing — or at least know better than some assembly-line worker bagging up powdered mashed potatoes by the ton.

I believe that proper barbecue ought to come in significant portions. Skinny people can eat barbecue, and do, but the kitchen should cook for a fat man who hasn’t eaten since breakfast. My leftovers should last for days.

I believe that if you don’t get sauce under your nails when you’re eating, you’re doing it wrong. I believe that if you don’t ruin your shirt, you’re not trying hard enough.

I believe — I know — there is no such thing as too much barbecue. Good, bad or in-between, old-fashioned pit-smoked or high-tech and modern; it doesn’t matter. Existing without gimmickry, without the infernal swindles and capering of so much of contemporary cuisine, barbecue is truth; it is history and home, and the only thing I don’t believe is that I’ll ever get enough.

Written by:
Jason Sheehan -Jason Sheehan is a James Beard Award-winning restaurant critic for Denver’s Westword newspaper. His barbeque obsession began at 16 with a trip to Hercules Chicken and Ribs in his hometown of Rochester, New York.

The Truth About Search Engine Marketing

I wanted to write to you let you know the truth about SEM. You ready? Here it is. Search Marketing is just like anything else in life, it takes hard work dedication and a lot of time. It takes understanding and most of all a lot of attention. There are no short cuts, and you need to surround yourself with people that know the industries best practice in order to be successful.

It is really amazing me just how many people are falling into the false promises of being #1 on Google for $500 bucks in a matter of weeks, when there are over 150,000 competitors in their market. Don’t believe what everyone is telling you. Do your home work.

Honestly, if it was so easy they would call it catching not fishing.

There are no shortcuts.

Google starts showing full page previews in search results

October 6, 2010

Google is today testing a major new layout to their search results – full page previews of the target site and blue backgrounds behind the search results when you hover over them. Click the image below for a full size version.

http://www.blogstorm.co.uk/google-starts-showing-full-page-previews-in-search-results/

New Issac.com

Still working out the details of the new Issac.com web site and expect to have most of this done within the next 48 hours. Stay tuned for more developments.

EDI Financial

Site Layout/Redesign
.NET Document Management System that allows for easy distribution of master documents to remote offices
SEM/Keyword Analysis
Application Hosting

Guidry Group

Services Provided:

Market Analysis
SEM Analysis
PPC Campaign Management
Information Architecture Analysis
Wire Frame for recommend layout with added features and required technology specs
Custom .Net programing for private survey application