Attractions

	Wilmington Hammerheads Soccer, games played in Wilmington NC at Legion Stadium on Carolina Beach Road.   Very good competition no bad seats in this stadium.  We couldn't believe how fast these players are.  The Hammerheads have a cheerleading/dance team that is very well choreographed and appear to be having fun too.   Our season tickets are VIP giving center field lower seating plus preferred parking and a VIP tent with munchies at an average of $15 per seat per game seems like a bargain.   Ticket scales range down from the VIP offering a family night of entertainment at a very modest price.  View Hammerhead schedules and ticketing information at www.hammerheadssoccer.com/.
	Battleship North Carolina, , as an old vet I may have given this rating a halo effect but there is a sense of history to be found here particularly now that we have our sons and daughters in harms way in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other areas around the globe.   When you go be sure to view the movie which details the service of this state namesake.  You can see the battleship from the Wilmington NC river front or visit by crossing the bridge and parking in Battleship park or take the water taxi from the Wilmington waterfront.
	Tote-Em-In Zoo, 5811 Carolina Beach Road:  Our granddaughter loved the animals.  We understand from the local newspaper that the zoo is to be renovated after the 2003 season and changed to provide a better habitat for the animals.   For now it is a good place to bring small children at a reasonable cost.
	North Carolina Aquarium, located in Fort Fisher State Park on the beach at end of island containing Carolina Beach and Kure Beach (Pleasure Island).  This is a be sure to see attraction offering native sea life in a well designed setting.  The aquarium offers many programs so ask what is available.  Great spot for vacationers and locals.  Also see the fort and walk it's trails for a sense of history from the civil war.
	Wilmington NC Senior Softball, , Tuesday and Thursday mornings 9AM at Empie Park, Odgen Park, and eventually Veteran's Park near Ashley High School the old guys play softball.   Good sportsmanship is rampant with both teams cheering good plays on either side.   The league has 8 teams with two 4 team divisions.  This is a lot of fun and we are looking for a few good men to round out our rosters particularly from age 62 and up for our more senior division, but 55 and over are welcome.  See us at www.wilmingtonseniorsoftball.com.    Remember for the best in senior softball play Wilmington NC Senior Softball.

Restaurants

Downtown Wilmington, NC:

	Circa 1922, Front Street Wilmington:  In our most recent visit we ordered off the price fixe menu.  Our original intent was to have a drink and order from the bar appetizer menu but the paiella looked very inviting and the shrimp oratelle was very good.  We were a little pressed for time since we were attending Chicago at Thalian Hall so we asked to be expedited through the meal.  Service, as always, was very good.  We also got a to go order of the creme brule which our daughter claims is the best in town...and we agree.  We have dined here several times before.  Our first visit was by accident since we were looking for someplace to eat before going to see Hair at the City Stage.  This is a tapas style restaurant with great gourmet flair.  They also offer a fixed price menu from Sunday through Thursday. Bar appetizers are available all week for $5 and very good try the tuna sashimi and the calamari.   Service is excellent (we ask for Dean a great server) and we are eating our way through the menu.  This is a little pricey but our experience so far makes it the best we have found slightly edging out the Pilot House. Most recent visit:  June 8, 2003
	The Pilot House, Wilmington waterfront:  Our second favorite restaurant in the area.  Great view, excellent service, old time ambiance, and great food.  Try the shrimp and grits appetizer it is awesome.  We have ordered our way through the menu and found everything high quality, presented well, and priced moderately.  A real winner.
	Front Street Brewery, , Wilmington on Front Street across from Circa 1922:   This is a solid workman like place to dine.  Only thing we really disliked was the rack of ribs which were undercooked and very chewy.  Their darker beers are very good.  This restaurant is only one block from the Wilmington NC waterfront.
	Elijah's, , Wilmington NC Waterfront:  We have dined outside and at the bar.  This is a delightful restaurant which we have visited less frequently than we might simply because it is next to The Pilot House.  We really like the bar to sit and watch boats go by on the river and enjoy a sandwich or munchy.
	Deluxe Cafe, , 114 Market Street:  We visited for Sunday brunch.  Food and service very good (ask for Kip short for Kipling a great server.).   Flamenco guitar from 11AM on Sundays.  The menu was very nice but my wife and I had a special of jalepeno sour dough bread topped with scrambled eggs, crawfish tails, and an oyster sauce which was extraordinary, our dining companion had an omelet from the menu and indicated it also was very good.  We will try the Deluxe for dinner based upon this good experience.  Note that this is somewhat pricey but the quality supports the pricing. Most recent visit: April 6th 2003 for brunch.
	Water Street Restaurant, , 5 S. Water Street:  We had a very pleasant lunch sitting outside with a view of Battleship Park and watching the people walk by.   Filet and prime rib sandwiches were very good.  We also had a shrimp, spinach, and cheese dip appetizer which was excellent.  Seems like a very nice spot for a restaurant on the waterfront. Most recent visit: June 1, 2003

Carolina and Kure Beach:

	The Deck House, , 205 Charlotte Avenue Carolina Beach.  NOTE: this is a side street off the main road through town.  The restaurant is housed in an old church so the spire sticks up for visibility, there is a Pancake House at the corner of the right hand turn if you are going south.  We have visited several times.  Good food, good ambiance, and the bartenders actually know how to make a Manhattan.  We take out of town friends here or Freddie's when we go to the beach.  We used a coupon from the Carolina Coast Dining and Value Guide (get yours from the Carolina Canines Organization www.carolinacanines.org ).
	Ocean Grill, , 1211 S. Lake Park Blvd on Carolina Beach:  We were planning to go to the Chowder House but found out the Chowder House was gone and Ocean Grill in its place.  This is a be sure to miss restaurant although the Tiki Bar is OK.   Service was terrible.  Once again bartender cannot handle mixed drinks and server thought "up with a side of rocks" was on the rocks.  The service was slow, inattentive, and unable to keep the order straight asking us whether we had gotten everything we had ordered (we hadn't).  An attempt to change selection of mashed potatoes to baked was answered with no substitutions.  The seafood chowder was acceptable.  Shrimp and Grits bland with an unappealing presentation.  Tuna was served rare when requested medium.  Overall a poor dining experience.
	Freddy's, , Kure Beach:  Once again service was excellent and the food very good.  This is a really good choice.  They also are offering early birds between 4 and 5PM Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday...looks like a very good value.  If you like pork chops you will love Freddy's.  The restaurant has an entire menu page devoted to the house special porterhouse style pork chops featuring some very interesting toppings.  I loved the raspberry.  Italian specialties are very good...but it is hard for me to order anything except the pork chops until I have tried each variation on the pork chop page. Most recent visit May 21, 2003
	Michael's, , Carolina Beach:   Seafood specialties.  Somewhat pricey.  Try the Low Boil it is great.   Soups are very good.
	The Cottage, ,Carolina Beach:  We had lunch.  Service was poor.  Meals served but not what we ordered.  When correct items were served they were tasteless.  Soups were very good.  We discussed service lapses and missed orders with owner's husband.  He apologized and offered $10 off of our next visit.  We will try once more probably for dinner but we are not optimistic.
	El Zarape Mexican Restaurant, , 103 N. Lake Park Blvd (the continuation of Carolina Beach Road).  We have visited for lunch several times and were impressed with quality of food.  Their salsa is very good with the chips supplied at the table.
	Sea Witch Cafe,  , 227 Carolina Beach Avenue Carolina Beach.   Thursday and Sunday afternoons are bocce ball days with a lot of fun in the Tiki Bar.  They have some very good appetizers Fried Green Tomatoes are excellent as are the Buffalo Wings and buffalo shrimp which you can request done correctly with no breading.  Our friends liked the Portobello Mushroom stuffed with crabmeat and we also enjoyed the bowl of clam chowder but you have to be really hungry!  Bocce in the yard was a hoot with every one from retired school teachers to the chef playing.  Monday evenings are an all you can eat crab special (my wife and daughter have taken on this challenge)  This is a fun place!

Wrightsville Beach and nearby:

Fish House Grill, , we have only been here for lunch once, on a sunny day in early March.  We were able to sit outside and enjoy the water.  Only tried the fish chowder and the steamed oysters.  Fish chowder was very good.  We will return.

Texas Steak House, , We had dinner here early Saturday evening.  Since the Preakness was coming up on TV we decided to eat in the bar area.  Service was fast and competent.  Food was very good particularly the filet with a sea food sauce, rib eye, and ribs.  Steaks were properly cooked to order.  In all an enjoyable meal.  The menu is workmanlike and similar to that of Desperado's near Monkey Junction. Most recent visit:  June 7, 2003

Other Wilmington NC suburban areas:

	Henry's,   Shipyard Blvd:   Our most recent visit on May 11 dropped this restaurant from a real contender to a level that we might never go back again.  Service was terrible, food not prepared to order then the manager argued about the levle of doneness of a steak stating that medium well was correctly done when bloody and bright red.  In addition the appetizer was never delivered.   The poor service and food makes us change our two strike rule to one strike and you are out.  There are too many consistently good restaurants in the area to waste time here.  Previously this one had moved into contention with our visit Saturday March 8th.  Superb service and great food (we now ask for Nancy another great server).  A real keeper from our perspective.  The surf and turf was beautiful with a nice sized lobster tail coupled with an 8oz prime rib.  It was enjoyed by two of us.  Crab cakes were very good as was the flat iron steak.  Try the Shrimp and Grits appetizer, it has a very tasty sauce.  I added some hot sauce but the other three diners loved it as is. Most recent visit May 11, 2003
	Trails End, off of Masonboro Loop Road:  We dined here only once and it was our worst restaurant experience ever (this includes not only the US but also several other countries as well).  We started with drinks and had to return a Manhattan because it was made with the wrong vermouth...after some disagreement with the bartender they discovered they had labeled their vermouths wrong and correctly made the drink.  A second Manhattan ordered later was also made incorrectly so they didn't bother to fix the labeling.   The salad bar is unremarkable.  For dinner we ordered a sirloin and a rib eye.   Both were ordered medium rare.  The sirloin was returned 4 times before being changed to a rib eye order.  It appeared the meat was frozen the first time and subsequent attempts to bring to medium rare failed.  The meat was also gristly and unattractive.  The rib eye was of low to medium quality when compared to other restaurants.  Our server was a long time employee and did not seem surprised at returning a meal 4 times so we have to assume that this is a normal occurrence.  Management was aware of all of the issues and offered to remove the $1 extra for the change to the rib eye (after 4 tries to get the sirloin right) but we declined that offer, paid our check and will not return.
	Giorgio's, College Drive at Monkey Junction (love that name).  Make sure you are hungry when you go to Giorgio's.  The food is very good.  Our first visit we made the mistake of ordering appetizers and brought most of our entrees home.  We joke that dinner at Giorgio's is a three day meal.  We, and dining partners, have enjoyed everything on the menu ranging from simple spaghetti and meatball through the more exotic offerings.   Great place.
	Indochine, 3000 Block of Market Street, it is set back actually on Wayne Drive.  Good Service, very good food particularly the Thai hot shrimp soup, and a very attractive setting.  We have visited for both lunch and dinner and found consistent high quality food with attractive presentation.
	J. Michael's Philly Deli, 3501 Oleander Drive (across from the Mall).   We came from the Philadelphia area and found this (so far) to be the closest to the sandwiches we were used to.  We used a coupon from the Carolina Coast Dining and Value Guide (get yours from the Carolina Canines Organization www.carolinacanines.org ...our golden retriever Duke is a Therapy Dog with this group and will march in the Azalea Parade with them).
	Desperado's Steakhouse and Saloon, , 5533 Carolina Beach Road.  We have eaten here several times.  Now open for lunch.  We have had solid well prepared meals on every visit.  Menu is very basic and offers a meat and potatoes environment.  When you enter scoop some peanuts from the barrel near the reception stand. Most recent visit May 24, 2003
	Rucker John's A Restaurant and More, , 5511 Carolina Beach Road...actually located in a shopping center in back of Desperado's.  Solid basic menu done well.   This restaurant supports old guy's softball (Wilmington Senior Softball) which I play (poorly) see www.wilmingtonseniorsoftball.com.
	Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn, , 4002 Oleander Drive, it really looks like a barn.  Food is very good but menu is somewhat complicated so take a paper one and read it to understand how to order.  Portions are gigantic and service is very fast.   Kids will probably love it because there are lots of video games and pin ball type to play as well as eat.  Decor is early chaotic.  Check out their specials.   We used a coupon from the Carolina Coast Dining and Value Guide (get yours from the Carolina Canines Organization www.carolinacanines.org ). Most recent visit June 22, 2003.
	Wahoo Willie's: , 7770 Market Street, Wilmington.  We visited with the Bargain Diners satellite group of the Wilmington New Comers Club.  The restaurant has a Caribbean theme but the menu is not Caribbean based.  Food was very good with some raves about their version of roast beef/london broil.  Shrimp and Scallop skewers were very good also.  We were a large group of almost 30 people and the restaurant did a good job of getting food and drinks out.  Overall we were pleased with the experience.
	Seguin Courtyard Cafe: , 414 Village Road, Leland.   Another restaurant we visited with the Wilmington New Comers Club.  This is a New Orleans themed restaurant and the menu supports the theme.  We were particularly pleased with the Etouffe.  Everyone appeared to enjoy the experience and we plan to visit again without a large group, hopefully to sit in the outside courtyard which looked interesting.

	Outsourcing:  How many organizations have questioned whether they should "stick to their core business" and jumped into the process of outsourcing information technology because it was hard to manage or, for executive management, hard to understand?  I have listed a few of the items that should be considered before ANY function is outsourced: Before any outsource contacts are made with vendors you must know your functional unit.  This knowledge requires in depth understanding of staff skills, training levels, staff performance levels, individual's knowledge of the business and possible knowledge of trade secrets or other special one of a kind knowledge, equipment inventories (yes everyone has one it just isn't accurate), software and software licensing inventories, and facility locations (owned, leased, joint ventured).  The key piece of knowledge to be acquired is the effect of this functional unit on our business!   Then document, document, document to provide a clear blue print of interactions needed between the unit and other company units which would remain after the outsource was completed.  Then the most important step develop a list of measures stated in business (not technical jargon) measures which will define the success or failure of this functional unit.  Remember that once a decision is taken to seriously consider outsourcing there will be major communication issues within your organization.  One of the key communication stumbling blocks comes in geographically dispersed environments where a central group makes an outsource decision that becomes binding on autonomous or semiautonomous business units...frequently missed communications with these business units leads to buyer's remorse. Vendor negotiations and selections:  The first point to consider is vendors like IBM Global Services, EDS, CSC, Perot Systems and Unisys approach an outsource prospect with a professional team which does negotiation of outsource agreements full time.  This means that many businesses are at a severe disadvantage in negotiations since outsourcing a function is a one time issue for the organization.  The point to start building a team for the customer side of the negotiation is before vendor contact is made.  If your business is in negotiation  already you may be at a severe disadvantage.  Remember that agreements struck often cover 10 years in duration and millions of dollars per year. Buyer's remorse:  Outsourcing Agreements tend to have long durations.  This is reasonable  based upon the economics of the agreement but not reasonable from customer perspective when faced with a changing marketplace.  The other key factor leading to dissatisfaction with outsource agreements is the lack of clear business oriented performance objectives that are fully understood within all of your business units.  Internal client dissatisfaction drives beliefs of poor performance when, in fact, the vendor is meeting the Service Level Agreements established in the contract.  Remember SLAs are often viewed by a customer as the minimum which will be delivered while the vendor view may well be that the SLA is the maximum which must be delivered (the vendor will always give lip service to exceeding SLAs even after instructing their delivery management to prepare cost benefit reviews of the effect on the contract net profit if they intentionally staff in a way that they would miss SLAs...this really happens).
	Strategic Planning:  Do you have a strategic plan for your business, or information technology?  Plans require effort and an attempt to understand your business, the competition, and outside market forces affecting your business.  Line managers often do not have the time to prepare an effective plan but go through the motions to produce a document that can be reviewed by internal and external auditors when that audit question comes up on the check list.  But what value is that plan?
	Temporary CIO:  Searching for a new Chief Information Officer?   What are you doing in the interim until the selection is made and the new candidate arrives?  Hiring a temporary seasoned fill in allows your Information Technology unit to continue meeting your business needs rather than marking time.
	Mentoring CIO:  You had a good internal candidate who just needs seasoning and new focus on the business instead of only a focus on technology.  Use a seasoned executive to coach and mentor your internal selection.
	Organization and technology reviews:  Are your Information Technology organizations at a world class level?  What about the level and sophistication of your technology versus your business needs?  Is the competition using technology as a weapon to cut your market share?
	Project Management:  Are you developing project plans that allow work to be completed on time and within budget?  Is the planning process documented and standardized within the organization?  Do your project managers need mentoring to achieve their full potential?  Are you using project management tools properly to help manage your projects?  Need project management training?  Is staff preparing for PMI certification tests?  Project Management consulting is an area where many offer consulting but few consultants have large projects that they have led to a successful conclusion.
	Information Technology Consulting:  What is the state of your overall information technology environment?  Is the technology positioned to allow future innovation?  How strong is your staff?  Have you invested in training needed to be successful in the technologies currently used and in those coming on-line within the next 9 months?
	A special note on remailing services:  This is a service established to make use of facilities already necessary for the business.  It offers confidential letter and postcard forwarding for special circumstances where showing your origin post mark would compromise the communication.

Why would I want to use a remailing service?:  There are many reasons to want to use a remailing service.  Generally there is a need to be able to mail a letter or post card from somewhere other than where you live.  Sometimes this is called postal remailing or letter forwarding.  MGB & Associates' service is unique in that you can monitor to be sure your items were mailed.  This may be a complaining letter, whistle blower alert to companies or regulators, or some other equally confidential communication.  Suffice to say you do not want the letter easily traced back to you.