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March 28, 2004

Seattle Restaurants

Looking around for a Seattle restaurant with a Northwest flair to take my visiting chef friend from New York to (since Mistral was closed and I'd wanted to try that) I ran across eGullet which has a Pacific Northwest forum with a constant stream of discussions on the local restaurant scene. Unfortunately I realized that I really missed out on the yearly 25 for $25 promotion that a number of great restaurants in Seattle offer...what a deal if you are into trying new creations. Doh! Trying a new restaurant 5 times a week for the entire month would be excellent.

While on eGullet I found links to a few other interesting sites including ExtraMSG.com, a blog that covers the Portland food scene.

Someone also mentioned an Everett tortilla factory located in the mini-mall complex at the intersection of Evergreen Wy and Casino Rd. Apparently they make amazing chorizo along with their fresh tortillas. I realyl miss breakfasts at Cafe Leysa's in Sayulita, perhaps this is my salvation in Seattle.

Also highly recommended was a place known by many names: Lo Sichuan, Sichuanese Chinese Restaurant, and That Szechuan Place on Jackson at 12th in the Strip Mall Across the Street from Bahn Mi 88. And also highly regarded was the Seven Stars restaurant across the street. Will definately have to try both.

Weekend picks: Agua Verde (UDist) and pork sandwiches at Paseo Caribbean Restaurant (Frement).

March 08, 2004

Health Insurance

Health insurance costs ar out of control these days, particularly if you aren't working for a large company. Apparently Washington State offers a reasonable health care plan if you are a resident. Rates are much better than COBRA: $179/mo vs. $389/mo with Cobra coverage.

http://www.lifewisewa.com/pdfs/C21_1530.pdf
http://www.lifewisewa.com/pdfs/005082.pdf
http://www.lifewisewa.com/pdfs/012198_01-2004.pdf
http://www.lifewisewa.com/visitors/product/overview.html
http://www.lifewisewa.com/pdfs/02AD0477_LWWPLWIndDisclos5.pdf

March 04, 2004

Search engine placement...

Having recently created a new website (DreamWeaver is amazing) whose traffic ultimately drives money into my pocket I've been researching ways for search engine placement optimization (SEO). Obviously each engine has it's own algorithms for determining relevancy to searches but there are common practices on ensuring high placement that should be followed.

Google publishes it's indexer guidelines, and third-party sites such as Scribbling.net has a cheat sheet on how to improve placement. For example, "Place more important content higher in the markup than less important content in a page."