For about as long as I can remember, I've been aware of the idea of strategy. Back when I played middle school football, we learned about two big strategic principles: pile up resources at the greatest area of need, and (contrariwise) deploy resources away from the point of contact, to A)trick the opponent into deploying their resources poorly (play action pass), or B)dilute your opponent's resources in hopes of a mismatch (stretching the field with a fast, deep-threat wide receiver, in order to create opportunities over the middle). In marketing, examples of these two tactics might be:Concentration of resources:- A…

We were having lunch today with Kristen McNicholas, over at Lemongrass. And she mentioned that she was starting to become interested in the herbs and spices Anne and I (and her sister and mother) use to stay healthy. I think this is pretty cool, because Kristen is young enough and generally healthy enough that it might do her some real good (as opposed to what it does for me, which is to keep me from completely falling apart. Then later, I was looking at some companies around here (some of which we have done some work for). I noticed that…

First of all, American Grocery was awesome last Thursday, as always. The place is a little bit of a secret, but it ought to be a destination. It would be worth coming to Greenville from Asheville, Charlotte, Columbia, or Atlanta to eat at American Grocery. I had the duck. I always enjoy whatever I have, but I can't get past the duck. Duck's so good it's almost daffy. Good time with the smart little brother. Look forward to seeing him again in a month or so. Next order of business. A shout-out to my friend Willie, who gave me a…

Smart little brother is back in town. Could you feel the lift in the median IQ of South Carolina about 7:00 this morning? He said the secret conversations with those people about that thing are going well. Nuff said.We're off to American Grocery. I'll give you a review. Yeeha! Good times.

So, we met last Saturday about 7:00 in the morning at Miss Anderson's house, to head off for our annual adventure at G-Hills. The trip was pretty uneventful-if a 7+ hour trip with a van-load of fundamentalists can be uneventful. We stopped on our way out of town to pick up some hymnals at the chapel. Interrupted Stan's prayer breakfast, which gave Stan the opportunity to come out and wish Maxine a happy week. It was sweet. Got our hymnals and got on the road. Made the obligatory Starbucks stop in Bristol, VA (just across the boarder from Bristol, TN,…