MEMPHIS BBQFest > 2023 > 1 Month Away - $100,000 budget due to inflation! (1 Viewer)

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Icon...not sure you know this....but you put together one hell of a freaking party. thanks for including me again.

Thanks man... but i'm a cog in this wheel. I do a lot of the planning, but it only works if everyone's on board. You were a godsend this year... zero chance we pull this off successfully without you coming up. so THANK YOU for taking time away from your restaurant to come up and be a part of this again, buddy

I am definitely coming next year. Mark my words!!!

Do it. You won't be disappointed

Looks like another awesome year. Thanks for posting this stuff!

It's my pleasure. I know some folks lke to follow along, and others want to jump in and enjoy themselves. I know PimpinAin'tEasy (jeff) shot me a message a week before and jumped back on board as a jr sponsor and drove over from NC, and had a blast again. He and his buddies rock.. wicked nice guys who seemed to have a blast again.

 

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So did you only enter ribs and some sauces? I think doing whole hog would be a blast. If nothing else would make for some really great photos.

With MBN comps you have the option to enter Ribs, Shoulder or Hog. There are 3 primary events that are considered to be the major categories that are judged/awarded on Saturday. You must pick one and only one.

After that, you have options to participate in as few or as many ancillaries as you would like... they are Beef, Poultry, Seafood, Exotic, Wings.... then 3 sauces (Tomato, Mustard, and Vinegar bases). Some teams compete in a few. We compete in everything becuase it's $75 extra (plus cost of materials/food to enter).

 

[culdeus]

So did you only enter ribs and some sauces? I think doing whole hog would be a blast. If nothing else would make for some really great photos.

With MBN comps you have the option to enter Ribs, Shoulder or Hog. There are 3 primary events that are considered to be the major categories that are judged/awarded on Saturday. You must pick one and only one.

After that, you have options to participate in as few or as many ancillaries as you would like... they are Beef, Poultry, Seafood, Exotic, Wings.... then 3 sauces (Tomato, Mustard, and Vinegar bases). Some teams compete in a few. We compete in everything becuase it's $75 extra (plus cost of materials/food to enter).

ok, gotcha.

 

[tipsy mcstagger]

Smaller is my choice...or stay huge with all labor paid for....including all the food served....I cannot do that as my vacation anymore I don't think. ooped:

 

[SproutDaddy]

So I see Justin Hand and Dave Silver are on your team. Both are good friends of mine.

Small world indeed!! Prob a decent chance I've run into you at Molly LaFontaine's or one of Silver's trolley tour loft parties.

Yes. I frequent both places on the reg.

 

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Smaller is my choice...or stay huge with all labor paid for....including all the food served....I cannot do that as my vacation anymore I don't think. ooped:

Yah sorry GB. :(

Butts are pretty easy to precook and we could probably assemble a team of 2-3 guys that could do what you do by yourself for the mass feedings.... maybe. I'm not sure anyone realizes how much of a BBQ machine you are.

 

[sbonomo]

let me tell you how awesome the bonomo brothers are. they worked harder and seemingly have more fun than most folks are capable of. really hope to get y'all down for Hogs for the Cause next year....or at least a visit down here. love ya man! awesome to hang with yall again!

Totally true. Two of the coolest guys I've had the privilege of hanging with. Always laughing/smiling and busting their asses in the booth to boot. They definitely make the fest a lot more fun with their presence.

I have one major problem with our 10th place finish in ribs. The pit we used...the Southern Pride....excellent machine.....zero soul. I'm a stick burner and always will be. It offends me that charcoal and chunks of wood and not clean burning fire can do that well. I am convinced a layer of smoke from my style of pit make even better ribs....I will be trying that rub and sauce soon to try to prove my theory..

Yet...those ribs were freaking perfectly cooked, delicious, and beautiful. It makes my head butt hurt.

Agreed on the zero soul of the SP pit, but it saved our ### with the mass cookings and such, if not so much with the ribs. The ability to load immense amounts of meat into it and just let it roll had to have been nice. Not that there's not any care put into the public feedings... but I think its tough to treat that quantity of food like you would a small batch for competition.

I did agreed with you that the food across the board could have benefitted from a bit more smoke, but I also think bucking the system and in favor of "purity" is futile if it means we're not getting hardware. That said, if we can find a happy medium and still get walks, I'm all for it.

One of the biggest challenges facing us going forward is division of pit duties. We had given Troy complete creative control of contest entries due to Tipsy not being able to commit to the trip... however going forward we're all aware it's unrealistic to expect tipsy to want to still come up and cook for the masses while not being given any platform to chase hardware on the comp level.

Finding balance there to keep our embarassment of riches in the pit is going to be tough.

You make some great points here ICON. Next year, i think the team, or at least the pit team, needs to be able to taste day of. It doesn't have to be a democracy but we were lacking some basic seasoning. Overall a huge success but we need to always strive to be better!

 

[sbonomo]

So did you only enter ribs and some sauces? I think doing whole hog would be a blast. If nothing else would make for some really great photos.

no whole hog this year, although there was some rumbling that we may try to do one for the team next year....we'll see..

 

[sbonomo]

Smaller is my choice...or stay huge with all labor paid for....including all the food served....I cannot do that as my vacation anymore I don't think. ooped:

Yah sorry GB. :(

Butts are pretty easy to precook and we could probably assemble a team of 2-3 guys that could do what you do by yourself for the mass feedings.... maybe. I'm not sure anyone realizes how much of a BBQ machine you are.

I am physically still tired two day's later....

 

[[icon]]

Smaller is my choice...or stay huge with all labor paid for....including all the food served....I cannot do that as my vacation anymore I don't think. ooped:

Yah sorry GB. :(

Butts are pretty easy to precook and we could probably assemble a team of 2-3 guys that could do what you do by yourself for the mass feedings.... maybe. I'm not sure anyone realizes how much of a BBQ machine you are.

I am physically still tired two day's later....

You and I both, buddy.

 

[JerseyToughGuys]

I am definitely coming next year. Mark my words!!!

 

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I am definitely coming next year. Mark my words!!!

You coming back down if Foos does, GB?

 

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Some food porn pics received from Yi Lynne.... posting later tonight

EDIT: let's try this FOOD PORN LINK

 

[PinkydaPimp]

Some food porn pics received from Yi Lynne.... posting later tonight

EDIT: let's try this FOOD PORN LINK

i drooled on my keyboard.

 

[Brony]

Some food porn pics received from Yi Lynne.... posting later tonight

EDIT: let's try this FOOD PORN LINK

Love dem wings.

What are those small pieces of beef that look like they have mushroom on top? Looks phenomenal.

 

[sbonomo]

Some food porn pics received from Yi Lynne.... posting later tonight

EDIT: let's try this FOOD PORN LINK

Love dem wings.

What are those small pieces of beef that look like they have mushroom on top? Looks phenomenal.

That was the venison. Very good but missing salt and pepper IMO.

 

[sbonomo]

I will try to post all my pictures tonight.....

 

[Foosball God]

Some food porn pics received from Yi Lynne.... posting later tonight

EDIT: let's try this FOOD PORN LINK

:drool:

 

[tipsy mcstagger]

I will try to post all my pictures tonight.....

wellllllll..............we're waiting :judgesmails:

 

[Chaos Commish]

I'll be in Memphis for one day in early October. I have time for one afternoon or evening meal. I've never been. What is the can't miss grub? Where must we go?

 

[krista4]

I'll be in Memphis for one day in early October. I have time for one afternoon or evening meal. I've never been. What is the can't miss grub? Where must we go?

Downscale: Gus's Fried Chicken

Upscale: Restaurant Iris

Midscale: Hog & Hominy

Of all these, I put Gus's at the top. Hell, Mr. krista has it in his Top 10 meals anywhere in the world.

Caveat: We moved away two years ago.

 

[Brady Marino]

If you're going to be by the original Gus's, a stop at Gibson Donuts for their BACON DONUTS are a requirement!

Of all the things I miss about Memphis, I may miss Gibson's the most.

 

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2016 BBQFest planning is WELL underway. Getting a late start in this thread this year. Sorry guys!

Some turnover on the team... couple guys with life crap getting in the way, one being our very own Tipsy having to step down. It's not going to be the same without him :(

The party must go on. We've secured Lagunitas, Red Bull, CDW, Cisco, Beam Suntory, Southern Pride Pits, and the usual assortment of sponsors yet again this year to join us in the debauchery.

We have applied for a 50% larger footprint (largest you can get) and are looking at a monstrous 1.5 story scaffold that will actually be the same sqft as our 3 story last year.

Much more to come...

 

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75 Days till load-in... 

IF any FBGs were planning on coming for this, hotel rooms are getting scarce quickly. We will likely have to be tighter on guest-list as well this year due to demand already spiking. 

Looks like Cisco/CDW will be hosting their half-hear sales meeting at the booth on Thursday night. Giving them the top deck from 5-8pm and they're allowed to  come down and mingle afterward (thursday only). 70 folks confirmed at $13,500 with that number likely rising to 80-90 in the coming weeks. Should be a great experience for them and the ~$15k will go a long way in helping cover our costs. 

 

 

[JerseyToughGuys]

75 Days till load-in... 

IF any FBGs were planning on coming for this, hotel rooms are getting scarce quickly. We will likely have to be tighter on guest-list as well this year due to demand already spiking.

Looks like Cisco/CDW will be hosting their half-hear sales meeting at the booth on Thursday night. Giving them the top deck from 5-8pm and they're allowed to  come down and mingle afterward (thursday only). 70 folks confirmed at $13,500 with that number likely rising to 80-90 in the coming weeks. Should be a great experience for them and the ~$15k will go a long way in helping cover our costs. 

 

That's a pretty sweet deal. Awesome.

 

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CDW/Cisco Finalized at 100 folks for dinner  for $16,500 on Thursday night. Apparently it's some sort of mid-year sales meeting and they're flying in top customers and such. Whatever... they're fun guys/ladies and it keeps the lights on. 

MIM just changed the tent/tables/chairs/rental provider to a new company (Finally).... turns out the woman in charge of that company is a good friend of ours (I guided her bachelorette party in vegas, hooking them up with cabanas, comped dinners, etc via VIP hosts I knew). She's planning on getting our #### set up first, and getting us a contract independent of Memphis in May, which should save us a grand or so.

Working on live entertainment his year. Final Season American Idol semi-finalist Chris CJ Johnson is on for Friday so far.... 
 

 

[sbonomo]

Oh man, I cannot wait for may to come!  Unbelievable how fast this year has gone by!

 

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Oh man, I cannot wait for may to come!  Unbelievable how fast this year has gone by!

Good times ahead, GB! 

 

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Last night we had our 2nd to last team meeting... and got our team packet in the mail. 

• New Website (still working out kinks): http://usualsaucepects.com/
• Booth is R091. Our location on map for reference.
• A $3.5k sponsor is waffling. May be an interesting adjustment to make in the budget (12% of total revenue, gone). 

LOTS of work to do.... Looks like we may have a band o FBGs showing up to cornhole after all.... 

 

[Nugget]

I am on my first trip to Memphis tonight and I just ordered an enormous amount of BBq at the Commissary. Best of luck with the competition. Hopefully I can back it back sometime to see the event. 

 

[sbonomo]

I am on my first trip to Memphis tonight and I just ordered an enormous amount of BBq at the Commissary. Best of luck with the competition. Hopefully I can back it back sometime to see the event. 

Why not this year!

 

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All sponsors $ in
All Pre-Fest Prep and #### paid for... 3000 sq of carpet, $3000 on tent/table/chair rental, 3 full size ice refrigerators rented, 4 porta-potties rented, 45,000lbs of scaffolding and plywood ordered and being loaded on trucks in a couple weeks, 200 Amps of 220V power service to our custom built electrical panel. $75,000 light and sound system going in with intelligent lighting, 3 audio zones, 4 massive dual 18" sub cabinets, laser modules, multiple flat screens including directTV feed and 4G Wifi Service. $50k damage insurance on the system, plus $2MM Liability policy over the whole booth. 

• Loading the PODS April 26-28th
• Scaffold Build May 4-6th
• Labor laying carpet May 7th and helping unload large items from PODS. Light booth setup that day 
• Wed May 11th AM picking up 24 Lagunitas kegs, then 1000lbs of meat/food from BB Kings on Beale, then trailering into park and labor will load kegs/food into refrigeration
• Wed May 11th PM: Team finish setting up booth (hanging lights, banners, decor, stocking bar, tapping kegs, cooking team dinner that night

We have a professional high-end wedding videographer shooting the event this year.
• Mounting mutiple GoPros to scaffold for time lapse footage 
• Shooting high frame rate 1080p in booth for flexibility in speeding/slowing footage in post production
• Bringing 4K video drone for aerial footage of booth/festival day or night. 
• DAY: Shooting food prep, cooking, team hanging out, live music, People eating/drinking, arial footage of booth/festival, etc
• NIGHT: Shooting folks dancing, DJs spinning, Insane light show in booth, arial footage of booth/festival. 

Will likely be broadcasting live via Facebook Page and maybe Periscope periodically through the event if anyone wants to follow along. Definitely follow FB and Twitter for regular updates. 

 

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Scaffold under construction > 

Southern Pride SP-700 pit has been delivered in town and is ready for action >
For those who may wonder this is a $25,000 automated convection self-basting rotisserie smoker that is just given to us by Southern Pride each year.

Koozies are in > 

Since host nation this year is Canada, our shirts are inspired by retro Molson can artwork

Gratuitous Brisket shot from a comp a few weeks ago - Hungry? >
 

 

[Joe T]

 

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Scaffold is up. Needs a few tweaks but it's pretty much ready. It is 40% wider and 20% deeper than last year. 1.5 stories with the same square footage of last years 2.5 story setup.  

View from top deck before carpet and tenting.

View of sunset over mississippi river from top deck last night.

Late night last night moving the smoker into place.
 

We had a brief issue yesterday when our portable storage unit was late (was due wednesday). A series of calls and they sent a driver out after hours to relocate it to our lot, since the scaffold company couldn't finish construction until it was in place. 

Now everything is there. Saturday morning we have a labor crew arriving at 8am to lay the carpet, the team arrives at 9am to begin unloading the storage POD, getting everything in place, hang banners/lighting, set up kitchen, etc. 

Sunday off for mothers day. Monday off.

Tuesday the AV crew will be arriving to install the ridiculous system. Sbonomo flies in Tues PM and we're going out for dinner to talk through the week. Staying with me that night then we're all checking into our hotels downtown Wed. 

 WED AM we will have labor on hand to load in the 24 kegs into refrigeration, the meat/food as well. We'll finish setup and wed afternoon/evening is team day/night. Big meal with friends and family to kick off the festival. 

So close.... 

 

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Load in was a success.... 

The scaffold is up and banners are hung. It's massive. Last year's 2.5 story booth was 24x50. This year's 1.5 story both is 34x60. It comes out to about the same square footage with a MUCH larger main room, where most folks want to be anyway. 

Panoramic view from the top deck before hanging banners.  The entire top deck will be covered by a huge canopy tent as well. 

Custom 14' wide DJ Booth built onsite. Will overlook main dance floor area but will be more accessible than past year's 2nd floor setup. Will house all sound and lighting gear as well as 4 laptops which will run array of lighting, video feeds, DJ mixing setup, and social media feeds. 

Taking a break from building the wall around the porta potties (to separate from bar/kitchen area) and running tensioned wire cable across span to hang bar menu banners. The back 35% of the booth that isn't 2 stories will be under a huge canopy tent that's due to be installed monday or tuesday. 

Looking at the booth as you approach from the north (beale street side). Someone is setting up a small-ish booth next to us in that empty space. 

My GF helping hang string lighting around the scaffold.

Looking down at the back section of the booth from the top. This is the kitchen/bar section that will be covered by a tent. The back uncovered grass area houses our storage pod and southern pride smoker. We also have a backwoods Party smoker, and a Liberty gc smoker back there as well as a weber kettle grill. The potties have since been moved into place on the scaffold. 

Looking in from the back of the booth (by the smoker). Again, the back section will be tented, the top deck will be tented, but this gives an idea of the scale of the space. 

Looking at the booth as you approach from the southern side. Again, some team will set up in that space next to us but we should tower above all our neighbors. 
 

 

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Storms coming in tonight and booth tents still not up. I don't think I need to tell anyone here what happens to plywood when it gets soaked. We paid $1500 for tent rentals and they're behind schedule. If they don't get them up before this storm, we might be in trouble. Our scaffold guy is hammering them with calls/texts. 

Light and sound gear going in later today or tomorrow am. It can't go in until tents are up though. 

EVERY vendor who was providing services (aside from potties) has been late. Our ice machine / refrigeration rentals are beat to hell... one has a bullet hole in it. I'm hoping they work. Frustrating that Memphis in May gives these contracts to companies that can't provide the services they're contracted for. 

 

[Tusken Raider]

Looking at the booth as you approach from the southern side. Again, some team will set up in that space next to us but we should tower above all our neighbors. 
 

That's our team spot. Hi, neighbor!

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

Load in was a success.... 

The scaffold is up and banners are hung. It's massive. Last year's 2.5 story booth was 24x50. This year's 1.5 story both is 34x60. It comes out to about the same square footage with a MUCH larger main room, where most folks want to be anyway. 

Panoramic view from the top deck before hanging banners.  The entire top deck will be covered by a huge canopy tent as well. 

Custom 14' wide DJ Booth built onsite. Will overlook main dance floor area but will be more accessible than past year's 2nd floor setup. Will house all sound and lighting gear as well as 4 laptops which will run array of lighting, video feeds, DJ mixing setup, and social media feeds. 

Taking a break from building the wall around the porta potties (to separate from bar/kitchen area) and running tensioned wire cable across span to hang bar menu banners. The back 35% of the booth that isn't 2 stories will be under a huge canopy tent that's due to be installed monday or tuesday. 

Looking at the booth as you approach from the north (beale street side). Someone is setting up a small-ish booth next to us in that empty space. 

My GF helping hang string lighting around the scaffold.

Looking down at the back section of the booth from the top. This is the kitchen/bar section that will be covered by a tent. The back uncovered grass area houses our storage pod and southern pride smoker. We also have a backwoods Party smoker, and a Liberty gc smoker back there as well as a weber kettle grill. The potties have since been moved into place on the scaffold. 

Looking in from the back of the booth (by the smoker). Again, the back section will be tented, the top deck will be tented, but this gives an idea of the scale of the space. 

Looking at the booth as you approach from the southern side. Again, some team will set up in that space next to us but we should tower above all our neighbors. 
 

Looks awesome!

 

[[icon]]

That's our team spot. Hi, neighbor!

Woot! Glad to have you guys as neighbors. Thanks for sending over the pics of the setup... Look forward to a couple cold beers with ya this week!

 

[[icon]]

Looks like Three 70" flatscreen TVs in the booth this year, per our A/V company. 

Apparently a local country station was just talking about BBQfest and the DJ's mentioned our booth "Usual Saucepects are on another level. Looks like they're down at R091 this year. A must visit if you can get in". I wasn't listening but got 3 texts/calls from friends about it. 

Here we go... thank god for professional security.... 
 

 

[culdeus]

Who is doing your meat this year?  

 

[[icon]]

Who is doing your meat this year?  

Not sure what you mean by this. 

Source of meat: 
• $600 worth of Compart Duroc Ribs for comp day... ordered through a butcher here in Memphis who handles all of our bandsaw trimming, etc. Not sure on the ancillaries. We have kitchen team that have that nailed down. Sbonomo is part of that crew and can probably answer it. 
• Mass feeding meat was ordered in bulk through my buddy who is the exective chef over BB Kings Restaurant group. they are located at the head of beale very close to park entrance and get excellent bulk discounts so they have everything ordered onsite and holding for us till wednesday. 

Cooking meat:
• Our pitmaster this year is Daren Sarphie, also out of New Orleans. tipsy simply couldn't commit the time with the restaurants in flux, his insane hours, and trying to spend more time with his family. Daren has been comp cooking for a few years now and has some hardware under his belt. He's very new to MBN style and baby backs so this will be a learning experience for us all. We're here to have fun and if we can take home hardware that's a nice bonus

 

[bryhamm]

Good luck in the comp icon

 

[krista4]

Ah, I miss the smell of all that smoked meat wafting up to my house.

Every year I think you guys can't outdo yourselves, but then you do.  Hope it all goes well and the rain holds off.

 

[[icon]]

Thanks guys! 

Dish Network crew down at the booth installing satellite feed now. A/V Crew later this morning for light/sound/video. 

Tent company still is no-show. Our team had to scramble and buy a massive tarp to try and cover at least the top deck to keep all our plywood and carpeting to soak/ruin from the torrential downpours last night. Fingers crossed it worked. Plywood isn't pretty once it gets wet. We're playing nearly $2000 for tent rental and they are now approaching 3 days late on the install.

The only reason we agreed to an exorbitant sum is:
1) We didn't want our plywood/carpet ruined.
2) The festival locks in exclusive rights with a vendor who then proceeds to #### everyone because they have no competition. 

Very frustrating to plan everything down to a T and have exclusive vendor after exclusive vendor fail to meet their duties.


 

 

[[icon]]

Phone going nuts... 

Buddy who was on my old team (slab yo mama) just texted. Something about a client who has entertainment budget and there is $1k left over... he wants to throw it our way for the booth. Doesn't want anything in return. No tickets. No passes. No banners. Just free money. Okay.

Two other companies have inquired about sponsorship next year. Neighboring booths are coming by asking us how we are structured, what our sponsor fees are, how we're doing what we're doing. It's odd...once you reach a certain point, momentum takes over and the thing sort of takes on it's own life. 

 

[culdeus]

Thanks guys! 

Dish Network crew down at the booth installing satellite feed now. A/V Crew later this morning for light/sound/video. 

Tent company still is no-show. Our team had to scramble and buy a massive tarp to try and cover at least the top deck to keep all our plywood and carpeting to soak/ruin from the torrential downpours last night. Fingers crossed it worked. Plywood isn't pretty once it gets wet. We're playing nearly $2000 for tent rental and they are now approaching 3 days late on the install.

The only reason we agreed to an exorbitant sum is:
1) We didn't want our plywood/carpet ruined.
2) The festival locks in exclusive rights with a vendor who then proceeds to #### everyone because they have no competition. 

Very frustrating to plan everything down to a T and have exclusive vendor after exclusive vendor fail to meet their duties.


 

You probably survived better tarping your stuff than relying on an overhead tent to keep out sideways stuff at 3 stories up tbh.

 

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You probably survived better tarping your stuff than relying on an overhead tent to keep out sideways stuff at 3 stories up tbh.

LIkely yeah...  learned from past years and kept staples to edges, stacked chairs and wood on center. Taped down leading edge. Still waiting on report on condition of booth. 

We have custom sized tarps for all sides of booth for the storm coming in thursday. otherwise weather looks to be very nice.

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

Phone going nuts... 

Buddy who was on my old team (slab yo mama) just texted. Something about a client who has entertainment budget and there is $1k left over... he wants to throw it our way for the booth. Doesn't want anything in return. No tickets. No passes. No banners. Just free money. Okay.

Two other companies have inquired about sponsorship next year. Neighboring booths are coming by asking us how we are structured, what our sponsor fees are, how we're doing what we're doing. It's odd...once you reach a certain point, momentum takes over and the thing sort of takes on it's own momentum. 

There is no doubt watching this take shape over the years that you definitely have your #### together with this...The line of success forms behind you.

I have to say, I really do like the layout of your site this year more than any other that you have shown.