One Year Anniversary

We are a week away from the First Year Anniversary of this site. We started on August 13, 2005. The anniversary of this site just happens to coincide within a few days of my wedding anniversary (no, not my first wedding anniversary - actually my 27th wedding anniversary). Looking back at the posts at the beginning I see that I was quite ambitious posting new articles every few days. I later realized that to keep a quality article coming every week I needed to spread the posts to once each week - which now takes place late Friday nights (or later in the weekend if I have a new buffet stop planned).

Since registering this site with BlogTopSites in October 2005 we have had over 39,000 hits. That really impresses me. There is a link to that site on the side panel - if you search our site there you can add to our rating - which also is pretty good. On one of the tracking lists we are ranked 169 among food blogs with a five "star" rating. Considering that there are thousands that really impressed me.

Finding new buffets has gotten harder and harder. Searching for buffets on the Internet is not an easy task - Google "buffet" and you will get a multitude of returns for "Jimmy Buffet" and not so many, if any, for restaurants. I greatly appreciate finds from readers - and if I can get to them, I will write about them. If I can't get to them and I can find out information about them I will pass that along too.

When there are not new buffets to go to and there has not been anything significant at any of the restaurants that I frequent, writing gets harder and harder. I never want to skip a week and at the same time I do not want to get out the shovel and just put anything down (I am getting the feeling that I am doing that now). I try to find something interesting or strange at my most recent visits to the same places that I have reported on before - or find a topic that I have not covered or not covered enough. With this blog my writing has taken on an off the cuff style that I feel is what keeps my readers coming back. I tell it like I see it and get it down like I am talking to a friend. (So, if it sounds like I am going to milk this anniversary thing for two weeks of articles - well, you have to come back next week and see.)

The "rules" got started as a hope to spread the word on making the "all you can eat" experience more enjoyable for all. They are merely common sense and most come from observations at a variety of buffet experiences. The greatest thing to take away from the rules is that the buffet style restaurant is NOT A CHALLENGE to stuff as much as you can into your mouth at a meal. The art of the buffet is that you can taste a variety, eat what you care to, and know that you can always go back up for more of what you like.

We have had some great comments from readers. Every time that I review a buffet that has a website I email that restaurant to view the article and post a comment. In the year I have only had direct responses from three restaurants - all appreciative of the review. (One of these even invited me to introduce myself the next time I came in - I have been back several times and I have not let on as to who I am.) None of the big chains have responded. OCB does not seem to respond to anyone - even when a customer fills out their comment section on their website.

About mid-way through the year I added the Google ads to the side panel. I am supposed to get pennies for each time someone clicks on one of the boxes. (No, I cannot click on them myself and make a bundle - they follow where the click comes from and I would be kicked off the ad service.) The pennies are supposed to add up and originally when it got to $25.00 I would get a check. It was near that recently and I found out that they upped the minimum to over $100.00. Lots of luck before I get to that. Maybe someday... I have no control over who advertises - it is supposed to coincide with the theme of the site and other than the buffet table furniture ads that have shown up the sites are usually related. OCB has been there frequently. If you are so inclined click on a button and support this site, maybe the hundred bucks could become a reality. How nice.

Well, I want to thank everyone for visiting this site and reading my rambles. I really like when I get a comment - pro or con. (It shows that someone is paying attention.) Please keep coming back and I will try my best to keep you entertained. As always I invite suggestions, salutations, and comments.