From the banks of the Genesee to the shores of the Tennessee.

1988-2007. Wow, what a long time to live in one area. That's the duration of my career in Upstate New York, Rochester more specifically. During that time I became a fan of such Rochester standards as the world Famous George Eastman House, quaint burger chains like Tom Wahls and Bill Gray's and I learned that virtually every town surrounding Rochester has a little eatery featuring some form or "Garbage Plate." This concoction typically features heaps of baked beans, macaroni salad, and potatoes topped with either a burger or a couple of hot dogs (called "hots" in Rochester). The whole mess is further enhanced gastorically with a form of hotsauce--a form of chili. Besides eating, I managed to serve a range of clients from Eastman Kodak and Xerox to small neighborhood restaurants, attorneys and dentists. I worked at a couple of well-known agencies that are now defunct and I freelanced for a dozen or so others, some of whom are quite good and thus not defunct. My wife and I raised two kids there and got halfway through raising a third. At various times, I was a Soccer Dad, a Ballet Dad, a Gymnastics Dad and a Lacrosse Dad.

In early 2007, fate and opportunity intervened to bring me to Knoxville. What Knoxville lacks in quaint, well established local burger chains it more than makes up for in barbecue places. And like most of the South, sweet tea flows like water. Knoxville is perhaps the most college football crazy town in the country (I lived in Columbus, Ohio at one time, too). This means that when the Tennessee Volunteers are going through tough times, the whole region agonizes along with the team. However, hope springs eternal here and everyone knows that basketball season is not far off. The Lady Vols and rejuvenated men's basketball teams have rarely disappointed in recent years. East Tennessee is a beautiful area and only moderately hotter than Rochester during the summer months. The good news is that it is significantly "less cold" in the winter. While Rochester suffered through another hundred-plus inches of snow last winter, Knoxville only got flurries once or twice. Here you get Spring, Summer, Fall, a couple months of November and then back to Spring. Yay.