Review of Red and Green Brazilian Steakhouse in Atlanta

There has been an awful lot of media buzz lately about a particular Brazilian Steakhouse in Atlanta, so I went to go check it out. I called in advance to tell them I was coming, and that I was a member of the media, but they didn't seem to care, and I wondered why. Were they crazy, stupid, incompetent, or so busy with lines around the corner they just didn't understand me? I soon found out the answer, and it almost knocked me out of my seat.

The Red & Green Steakhouse in Atlanta is the expensive surrogate child of Mr. Young Lee, a famously renowned business man in the Atlanta area. This guy made his fortune in land and laundry, as half the city has. Unlike the other half of the city, he's dedicated what should be his retirement to making a killer restaurant, even if it earns him more friends than dollars.

Normally, when a restaurant doesn't care that I'm a member of the media, it means that they already know that they offer poor service, lackluster food, or have prices so far out of market rates that it just doesn't matter, so long as people keep finding a reason to stumble through the damn door.

Of all the Brazilian Steakhouse restaurants I've been to in my life, this one easily ranks in the top three, except for price and value, where it beats the competition by miles. Just like everywhere I've been, the food is good, the service is exceptional, the selection is as broad as your ability to accept and taste it, but here the price was about half of what I expected.

I did a review last year of another Brazilian Steakhouse in Atlanta, and it was impressive. The food was about as good as at the Red & Green Steakhouse, the service was agreeable, it was only the parking and location that lacked. The big difference was the price. The other place, who's name I won't say since it's Fugo de Chao, cost literally twice as much... It would be one thing if they gave you more, but both restaurants offer the finest Angus cuts and hand-selected produce, but one costs literally, exactly twice as much as the other, and they don't even have parking?

Fugo De Chao is likely going to face more than stiff competition from the Red & Green Steakhouse, they're likely to lose half their business. This newcomer has a better wine selection, vastly better pricing, equal selection and quality, a better salad bar, and does it without forcing you to stuff your car in some creepy, suspicious, dangerous back lot for the night while just hoping for the best.

First time ever, I'm giving a restaurant the full five-stars. The Red and Green Steakhouse in Atlanta gets my elusive top rating... now if I could only convince them I deserve some free pie I'd be set for life... Ah well, so it goes.

Hemorrhoids Treatment Explained

Hemorrhoids or Piles is a condition where swelling and inflammation appear in the rectum and anus of the patient. The cushions of tissues at the junction of the anus and the rectum of the patient will be filled with blood vessels in this painful condition. According to the studies this health problem is common among the people of developed communities and quite unknown in tribal communities. The lifestyle and eating habits of the people are believed to be the real cause behind this health problem.

Increased straining during bowl movements, hypertension, obesity, pregnancy and excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages etc are found to the direct causes of hemorrhoid. Hemorrhoid is not considered as a serious health problem which causes any threat to the life of the person suffering from hemorrhoid. Though irritating and painful, the symptoms may disappear within a few days.

Hemorrhoids are classified into internal and external hemorrhoids depending on the symptoms and location of the hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids can be treated effectively by most of the people by adopting a suitable lifestyle with which you can prevent it from reappearing. These preventive measures include drinking of a lot of fluids, adding a lot of dietary fiber to your daily diet, reducing bowel pressure, exercise and by adopting better posture. These patients should strictly avoid using tight undergarments that cause irritation in the region.

These preventive measures need not always be helpful to treat all types of hemorrhoids. Some patients may require hemorrhoids treatments that include medication and surgical procedures.

If the condition of the patient is not so serious the doctors will normally prescribe the creams, ointments or pads that are available over the counter for the patients. This local hemorrhoid treatment if taken along with daily warm baths will relieve the patients from the symptoms of hemorrhoids.

Surgical hemorrhoids treatment may become necessary when blood clots form within an external hemorrhoid. These clots can be easily removed by the doctor by making a simple incision. If the bleeding and pain persists for a long time the doctor may recommend other hemorrhoid treatment modes that include rubber band legation, sclerotherapy, infrared light, surgery and stapling.

In rubber band legation doctor will place one or more thin rubber bands around the internal hemorrhoid to cutoff blood circulation to that area to make the hemorrhoid to fall off after a few days. Sclerotherapy use chemical injection around the blood vessel of the hemorrhoid to shrink it. Infrared lights are used to cut off the blood circulation to small, bleeding internal hemorrhoids. If none of these treatment modes are effective, doctors may ask the patient to undergo a surgery where the doctor can remove the tissue. Stapling, a relatively new hemorrhoid treatment is used to block the blood circulation to the hemorrhoid tissues.

Focusing on the Goal of Change Management

The dictionary defines a system as an "...orderly process or set of related things". As applied to business management, an effective management control system is a perpetual management tool that links facts together in an orderly fashion, so a manager can make timely decisions.

A manager must control numerous variables on a daily basis, including:

- High-level company goals such as productivity and customer service levels

- The relationship of one department to another

- The timely resolution of customer concerns

- Addressing variances to expected performance targets

Companies often undertake process improvement initiatives to achieve these goals. When committing resources to business process improvement initiatives, it is imperative to focus the entire organization on the following ultimate goals and objectives:

1) Minimize the amount of time it takes to change

Large projects that extend over a long period of time are often a disheartening process. The Project Manager must be sure to include milestones that can be effectively measured to ensure progress towards the ultimate goal and serve as a cause for celebration of success. Additionally, change is costly and most of the costs are time dependent. Therefore a faster change process is usually better for the organization.

2) Optimize the investment in change

The goal of Change Management is to enhance operational performance at the lowest possible cost, and not just implement change for the sake of change. Effective Change Agents implement initiatives with minimal disruption to daily operations and recognize when the cost of change exceeds the potential benefits.

3) Maximize the results of change efforts

Gain as much as possible from the change experience. Set stretch goals and demand that managers meet or exceed them. Push your organization to the highest level of performance and the most advantageous competitive position. Always remember, the competition is also striving to improve performance.

4) Some constants in Change Management

- All organizations change; by design or default

- Change can be planned and controlled; by you or for you

- How you respond to change is as important as what you change

- Resistance to change is normal, predictable and can be managed

When implementing business process improvement initiatives, it is always important to remember the ultimate goals of organizing and planning work assignments so they can be successfully executed within customer expectations and internal cost constraints. Relating these goals to the outcomes expected from a project will ensure success.

Be Plastic Smart - How to Save Money on Your Credit Cards

We Americans love our plastic. The average American has four credit cards, combined to provide access to about $19,000 in credit. We use them for everything from buying groceries to paying our utility bills to fulfilling our church pledges.

And all that credit can really cost us: Credit card companies made $43 billion from such charges as late payment fees, over-limit fees, and balance transfer fees in 2004 alone. (That's according to CardRatings.com)

But if you use your cards wisely, your use of plastic can help you save money and even help you earn bonuses. Here are four tips for being smart about your use of credit cards.

1. Make sure you have the best card for you and your family. Find the credit card that will give you the best interest rates, as well as the rewards that you need. About 60 percent of credit cards on the market today have some kind of rewards feature, whether it's airline miles, cash back, money for your child's college fund, or points toward merchandise at your favorite stores. If your card isn't offering you a premium of some kind, it might be time to shop around. Just make sure to also keep an eye on your interest rates and the other fine print before you make a switch or add a card to your wallet. Do your research on this before you make decisions because you don't want to be applying for a lot of cards or switching balances around too much.

2. The best way to be a smart credit card user is to not carry a balance on your card. If you don't keep a balance, then you are able to take advantage of the convenience your plastic offers as well as the card's rewards and premiums without paying anything in interest charges. Studies show that, on average, about 39 percent of Americans do pay those cards off completely each month. That's smart credit card use.

3. If you do carry a balance at any point in time, make sure your interest rate is as low as it can go. All it takes is a simple phone call to your credit card company to see if they'll lower your rate. If you have recently received an offer from a competing card, mention it to them to see if they can match it.

4. Don't go nuts with cash advances. Unless you are faced with a genuine emergency, it's a good idea to avoid using the cash advances that your credit card may offer. It may seem like easy money, but the fine print will often reveal additional charges, fees, and stipulations. Plus, it's an easy way to run up your balance beyond what you can afford to pay in the near future. Make sure you are well versed in all the fine print that your credit card offers.

Doctoral Dissertation Publishing - Capitalizing on Your Efforts

Publishing your doctoral dissertation can be very effective for the aspiring educator. When go through the blood, sweat, and tears of organizing your thoughts, research, and argument for your dissertation you are at your prime. This is a work that has been well thought out, sources double checked, and all T's crossed. This is the kind of work that gives way to advancements in the world across the board.

It reminds me of the movie, "A Beautiful Mind". Russell Crow and his friends in the movie thought long and hard about what they would develop as their theory. This theory that is developed many times, such as in the movie ends up becoming the driving force of a person's life. The work is many times the best possible work of the student that it becomes useful to the world at large such as in the case of this movie. We at our publishing company have been approached by doctoral students wanting to publish their work and I tell you these are the deepest and best books that we have seen.

If you have a work such as this that you have done or you are presently working on an important work such as this then you should definitely consider publishing your work and promoting it. Becoming an author to some people remains to be the mystical or far out thing. When you have a written work or an important message to deliver then you should consider ways to distribute that message to the market that it concerns. Publishing your message or work is an easy way to put your theory to work.

I encourage you to become an author because the world needs development in our thinking which influences development in our actions, systems, and organizations. The more powerful messages we can get out to the world, the more growth and development we will see in the world.

Are Social Security Private Accounts a Good Deal or Raw Deal for African Americans?

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Calling the tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. -- Abraham Lincoln

Whew! I almost wrote a really long article about the Social Security System and what it means to Black folks.

Fortunately, I fell asleep while writing it just like you would have reading it. I can't think of anything more boring then an in depth analysis of what is wrong with Social Security.

I think that one thing the under 40, Black American, internet savvy crowd already knows is that the Social Security system is in trouble and that it won't be there for us when we retire the same way it is for our parents and grandparents. Something has to give.

One thing is definitely true, the Social Security system won't exist in the same form and with the same level of promise that it has now.

So, with all the boring stuff out of the way, I want to say a few things about private accounts and what I think they mean for African Americans. I'll start with the bottom line up front. I think that Social Security private accounts are a good deal for African Americans but with some very serious reservations.

First of all, a private account is the government's attempt to add an ownership component to the system. However, in this case, your ownership rights will be severely restricted.

I can invest MY money in stocks, bonds, cash, real estate, businesses, mutual funds and any other investment vehicles I so choose. The private accounts system will likely offer a limited range of choices in nothing but paper assets like stocks, bonds and money market accounts that are managed by large Wall Street brokerages and mutual funds - the so-called experts.

Ownership with restrictions is merely the illusion of ownership. Very few things you own will have as many complex rules, restrictions and legal entanglements as private account will have attached to it.

Second, the government is forcing every American to become an investor without committing the resources to raise the level of basic financial literacy in this country. Alan Greenspan has said that basic financial literacy should be taught in our public schools.

The government did this very thing before when they created the 401K retirement system. That system has been a boon to Wall Street, Corporate America and many fellow Americans. However, the pain felt when the 401K gets hurt is not shared as freely as the benefits. Ask employees at Sun Microsystems, Enron, Martha Stewart Omni Media and other companies that have gone belly up or otherwise taken a brutal pounding in the stock market because of mismanagement and corruption.

Who will get hurt when Social Security private accounts take a beating? Will the average citizen be the last to know, as is already the case, when their private accounts hit rock bottom? Without a major, national effort to boost the financial literacy in this country, how will people react to negative news about private accounts? Will the government restrict our ability to react to negative news?

Third, what will the government do should you out-live your private account? Because the account only offers limited ownership not real ownership, I expect that we won't be able to bet their private account at the casino on the day they retire. I do expect the withdrawals from our private accounts to be amortized over a period of time based on something like the average life expectancy. What happens if you are the lucky somebody that lives a long, healthy life to 120 years old? If your account goes broke, what will the government do for you? If you enroll in private accounts, you agree to a cut in your benefits. Will you suffer if your private account suffers?

Fourth, the new promises are just as shady as the old ones. Private accounts will salvage the system for some time but ultimately will become plagued by their own, new and different challenges that will need to be fixed by a future generation.

No one in either political party wants the truth to get out about Social Security. Socialism is a miserable failure. Taxes will ultimately have to be increased on us no what fix we decide today for the system. When and by how much are the only questions that need to be answered. Cuts and elimination of some benefits are inevitable. Retirement will become anathema in the future.

In the past 10,000 or so years of human history, retirement didn't exist in any way, shape or form as it does today. People either got too sick to work or died. We've tried to change history with our current system but we can't change humans.

If you send someone a check and tell them they don't have to work anymore, they won't work. There are able-bodied and able-minded senior citizens that are not working because the governments sends them a check every month regardless. The truth is, a system set up like this will collapse one day on its own because its not the way of humanity.

I think its good that my generation believes more in UFOs then in Social Security being there for us when we retire. maybe that belief will be the motivation we need to save outside of Social Security to secure our own retirement.

So, with all of these reservations, you may wonder why I think that Social Security private accounts are a good for Black Americans. The answer to that is simple math.

Simple Math Reason Number One: Black males live to an average age of 66 years old. The average Black male now collects one year of full Social Security retirement benefits. The age of full retirement for the under 40 crowd is now set at 67. Watch for proposals to raise that age even more. The average Black female has a live span of 72 years meaning that she collects 5 years of benefits. The average White male and White female have life spans of 76 and 78 years, respectively.

Personally, I would rather pass my life time of Social Security tax dollars on to my children and grandchildren then to a little, old white lady I've never known in my life like we do now under the current system. You may not like this truth but that is who is getting your benefits now.

Simple Math Reason Number Two: It is not hard at all for the to earn more then the 2% return on investment that Social Security provides now. A money market mutual fund is paying anywhere from 3% - 5% interest at this time. You could easily and safely earn double what Social Security offers.

Simple Math Reason Number Three: The average Black American has a net worth less then $5,000 and that is only one-tenth of the average White American. Social Security private accounts, because they are form of forced savings, will add to the net worth of Black Americans. All other Americans will see their personal wealth build also so I don't expect that private accounts will close the racial wealth gap. I do believe that private accounts will inject much needed wealth into the accounts of African Americans and we need the boost most of all.

Also, because we don't live as long beyond the retirement age (which I hope will one day change), more of the wealth in our private accounts will get passed to our children, helping them to build wealth. So, a legacy of wealth will begin to grow from the seeds of investment into private accounts.

Simple Math Reason Number Four: This relates to what I said about bucking human history by creating this artificially constructed, man-made system of retirement and actually believing that it will sustain us unchanged in perpetuity. The system is breaking down. We need to start taking complete ownership - and control - for our retirement security.

Partial privatization is a step in the right direction. Even if the step is one small incremental one, we must begin somewhere. I don't think the destitute and disabled should be left out in the cold without our help and support. I do believe that the truth needs to be told and that no one is telling it today.

So, here is what I have to say: make a plan to provide for your own financial independence, invest heavily into your own financial education, invest your money wisely, prepare for the absolute worst and hope for the absolute best.

God Bless