Posts

Pizzeria Ozio – 697 US Hwy 98 Daphne AL 36526 – Pizza, Cocktails and More

, , ,

If you’re just passing through or new to the area, you may miss this jewel called Ozio located in the southern part of Daphne on US Hwy 98, but it’s well worth actually stopping in and grabbing a bite to eat for dinner or lunch. We chose dinner and found a selection of gourmet pizza at its finest.

We arrived at Ozio shortly before 7PM to find an almost packed house lined up to enjoy fine wine, mixed drinks, cocktails, live music by Jeff Glickman on acoustic guitar and, most of all, pizza. It took a moment, but we were greeted with a smile and the absolutely most attentive and polite waitress that we’ve ever had to date.

Both reviewers had un-sweet tea but were offered wine, mixed drinks, and Coke-Cola products as an alternative. We started off our meal with the calamari appetizer, which was served lightly battered with a very delicate but spicy lemon butter dipping sauce unlike any we’ve ever had. One reviewer stated that the calamari was unique enough to be a highlight of its own for the restaurant.

The pizza we ordered was called “Gardinio”, created with fresh red and green peppers, Crimini mushrooms, sliced red onions and arugula. We later found out that the dough of the pizza is not actually tossed. Instead, it is kneaded by hand into the delicacy that it will be once baked. Made as a 14 inch pie, this pizza was both light, healthy and filling all at the same time.

As you can see from the picture, it’s a delicious, hand-made pizza that is served fresh. We didn’t ask if it could be made to order. But judging from what we saw in the kitchen it wouldn’t be hard to get your pizza exactly the way you prefer, given some time.

Ozio provides an atmosphere that’s available for special occasions, a reason to be romantic and families. When you consider the quality at the same price, if not a better price than the corporate chains that really never put that extra care into the experience like Ozio does, you know for sure that you’ve found a keeper.

You can find Ozio online at:

Twitter: @PizzeriaOzio
Facebook: Ozio

Ozio is easily the dining that you’d wished you’d always knew about – a best kept secret of the Eastern Shore and Daphne, if you will – for an absolutely world-class and stellar experience. The service alone was enough to want to go back, not just the food.

/by

Oil Spill Information – TurkReno and ES Chamber Speaks Out

, , , , ,

We love our local media. We grew up listening to them. Heck, sometimes we are the local media when they get too bored or “busy” to report something. But this is unfortunately a topic that hits us and a good deal of our clients square in the chest. It affects our business in a way that some of you may not even imagine. What is it you ask? The Oil Spill and the media syndicating false rumors surrounding it. I want to be very clear about one specific point because it seems to get lost in the wash of commotion and heartache of wildlife being at risk. What is that point I want to be clear about?

DO NOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON THE NEWS ABOUT THE OIL SPILL! EVERYTHING ON THE ALABAMA COAST IS JUST FINE! (Or at least it was when we wrote this…now, it’s really, really bad.)

We are tired of the fear-mongering and it has had a direct impact on our clients income which in turn hurts our income because they no longer have a budget to advertise in some cases. One thing that this has taught everyone is that regardless if it’s true or not (in this case it’s not), the fact that someone who has a very loud microphone keeps talking about it (AKA the media), the more tourists don’t want to come visit. There are not dead, oiled birds, dolphins or tuna on our coastline. There are not tar balls washing up that would be any different than any other day at the beach (it’s normal for tar balls to wash up at the beach). And there is no smell of oil in the air. The local media reported that there were tar balls but that they were not confirmed to be caused by the oil spill and that LESS THAN A DOZEN were found. Again, that’s not more than normal. Dead fish? Happens all the time. Is it the chemicals in the water? What makes you think there weren’t already chemicals in the water from boats before the oil spill?

It’s no longer comedic or a joke. We’ve gotten fed up with it and the tone of this article surely is indicative of that. And we’re not the only ones. The Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce has spoken out against this fallacy of oil covering our beaches and the Gulf Coast being somewhere no one can visit right now too, and we commend them for it:

Friday, May 14, 2010

Dear Friend,

We are urgently working to combat the negative national media message and get the facts out to the United States and the world that the Gulf Coast, including Alabama, is open for business. Our goal is to pass the truth on. Yes, there is an oil spill, is it as bad as they say? You be the judge. At the bottom of this message is a link to information updated daily. It includes reports from NOAA, and daily pictures of the beaches in Baldwin County, Alabama. The beaches of Alabama and the Mobile Bay are very important to us all.. we are all working to be proactive and ready to protect our waterways and natural habitats, WE are committed to keeping you updated with the facts – not the fear factor.

The Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce
www.eschamber.com

Here are a few facts from that link:

  • The Alabama Department of Public Health and Alabama Department of Environmental Management stated that there is no foreseeable need to close beaches and, short of a drastic change, they have no plans to do so.
  • Tarballs travel independently of an oil slick and are not an indication that the slick itself will travel in the same direction or to the same area. The oil slick still has not reached the beaches of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach and, according to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) forecasts, is not expected to for at least 72 hours. Forecasts beyond 72 hours are not available.
  • Although NOAA has closed commercial and recreational fishing in a limited area between the mouth of the Mississippi River and Florida’s Pensacola Bay, there is a large area of the gulf still open.
  • All appropriate preventative measures, including oil-absorbing booms, are being used along Alabama’s beaches, bays, inlets and sensitive areas in an effort to prevent oil from reaching our shores. Researchers and scientists have indicated that any impact directly on the beaches can potentially be cleaned effectively and fairly quickly.

GO TO THIS LINK FOR PICTURES , MORE INFORMATION AND DAILY UPDATES!:

http://www.gulfshores.com/issues

Darrelyn
Darrelyn J. Bender
President/CEO
Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce
P.O. Box 310
Daphne, AL 36526
251.621.8222
dbender@eschamber.com

What do you do in a case like this? Well, first: Speak out. Comment here. If you don’t think that’s good enough, call WALA, WKRG, or WPMI, The Press Register and the entire conglomerate of sites that run AL.com and NOLA.com and tell them to stop running stories about it. Second: Go share this and blog about it yourself. Third: Tell all of your friends it’s OK to come to the beach and business is still open for EVERYONE. This is a very passive-aggressive move from our own people! Airing headlines that bleed to lead, putting statements and then following up with “inconclusive” facts. Shame on you local media for ruining your own town and our economy!

The South Alabama market cannot take this. This is unjust and it’s all from the media! Speak out and tell them to quit!  AND DON’T LET THEM DISTRACT YOU WITH ANOTHER STORY!! (People won’t stop thinking it’s unsafe to come to the beach until THEY SAY ITS SAFE – which it IS!)

/by

Los Tacos – 28991 U.S. 98 Daphne, AL 36526 – Great Fish Tacos

, , ,

Have you ever had a taco that you just couldn’t put down and when you were done with it you just wanted another one? We have, and they come from Los Tacos Fresh Mexican Grill in Daphne, AL. You can call them at (251) 626-6110. They’re right next to Taco Bell (imagine that) and it’s so much better. The prices and wait time is comparable so there’s absolutely no reason not to try them out. Los Tacos has eight different preparations of meat: Ground Beef, Chicken, Shredded Beef, Steak – Asada, Carnitas, Lengua, Pastor and Cabeza. And Los Tacos menu ranges from $0.79 to about $8.49 (Fajitas) and is mostly on the cheaper side.

We decided after talking to a very special relative that it would be a great idea to go try Fish Tacos. And I can’t say that I could have picked a better place to try my very first grilled AND battered Fish Taco. As Los Tacos menu states, Fish Tacos a battered or grilled Fish Taco consists of cabbage, pico and zesty sauce. We also had the Shrimp Tacos as well with some rice and Chips and Salsa.

Some of you may have had Los Tacos from the locations in Fairhope or Foley, maybe even from the Los Tacos van that can perhaps come to your place of work or even have your party catered by Los Tacos where you can “Spice Up Your Next Fiesta!”. We picked up a card at the restaurant that for Los Tacos Catering to call (251) 648-2788 for a personalized menu that fits your budget.

You can visit Los Tacos online at http://www.lostacos.org and see just about everything you’d like to see about their company including a menu. As stated on their site: “Los Tacos Fresh Mexican Grill has been been spicing up Baldwin County for over five years. With the addition of our third location in Daphne, you will have even more opportunities to enjoy the authentic flavors of Mexico.” There was a statement on the site that you could call the location nearest to you and have your meal available for pickup. Sounds like a great plan for lunch or dinner!

Overall Ratings:
Reviewer #1: 7.5/10
Reviewer #2: 8.5/10
Overall Score: 16/20

/by
Motorola S9-HD

Motorola MOTOROKR S9-HD Review With iPhone 3G S 3.0.1 OS – Newly Updated!!

,
Motorola MOTOROKR S9-HD

Motorola MOTOROKR S9-HD

I have been really wanting something that works well as a Bluetooth headset, as a real headset, to do A2DP on the iPhone 3G S. I decided to try the Motorola MOTOROKO S9-HD over trying the JayBird JB-200 Headset again.  Overall, it works just as bad as the ones with the adapters when playing music (very choppy, very random pauses).  However, you don’t need an adapter to get this pair to do Bluetooth iPhone calls or iPod.

I have been surprised with this new acronym that my iPhone doesn’t seem to be able to do (AVRCP), at least not yet.  It seems to also do the pairing automatically without asking for a code. The instruction booklet says that the code is 0000, but I didn’t ever need to put that in.  I’ll keep it simply for the fact that it does pair with our Broadcom Bluetooth receiver which is actually a Rocketfish Bluetooth Transmitter. It will work well as a diagnostic and day to day tool, and will be great for driving and hands-free.

=== UPDATE: 11/12/2009 ===
We wanted to write an update that these work PERFECTLY with the iPhone 3GS 3.1.2 OS. No skipping, techno sounds great, 100% all the way Motorola S9-HD! Worth the buy!

/by
Google Voice

TurkReno Contact Information Changes; Partnership with Google Voice

,

As we as a company continue to move into a virtual world, we have improved our telephone capabilities by integrating our systems with Google Voice. We now have one main number that we would prefer that all contact is made through: 1 (251) 279-0278 — Local to Fairhope, Alabama. This service not only allows us to be called on all phones simultaneously, but also the ability to receive voicemail from anywhere which is then automatically transcribed into a text message to our phones. There are other features that we are going to be using with this system.

From Google explaining the Google Voice System: “Google Voice is a service that gives you one number for all your phones, voicemail that is easy as email, and many enhanced calling features like call blocking and screening, voicemail transcripts, call conferencing, international calls, and more.” We would encourage all of our clients that are interested in this type of technology to go to Google Voice and sign up to be a part of the initial group before this becomes a major public service.

More info from Google: http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html

We appreciate your business and will continue to keep in contact with each of you.

Best Regards,

Taylor S. Ripley
TurkReno Inc.
P: (251) 279-0278
W: https://turkreno.com

Privacy Notice: This information is not to be collected for advertising purposes.

/by

Important notice: GeoCities is closing.

From Yahoo News —
Dear Yahoo! GeoCities customer,

We’re writing to let you know that Yahoo! GeoCities, our free web site building service and community, is closing on October 26, 2009.

On October 26, 2009, your GeoCities site will no longer appear on the Web, and you will no longer be able to access your GeoCities account and files.
What You Need to Do
If you’d like to move your web site, or save the images and other files you’ve posted online, you need to act now by choosing one of the following options:

Download your files to your own computer.
With your pages and images saved offline, you can re-create your site with any hosting provider.

To quickly download your published files, visit your GeoCities web site, right-click on each page, and choose Save Page As… from the menu that appears. Choose a location on your computer to save your files, then click OK or Save.

Don’t Wait
Please be aware that after October 26, your GeoCities files will be deleted from our servers, and will not be recoverable. If you’d like to save your files, you must download them now or move to Yahoo! Web Hosting. If you need assistance, please visit the help center.

We want to thank you for being a GeoCities customer, and hope you continue to enjoy our other Yahoo! services.

Best regards,

Yahoo

So.  We offer hosting.  We may not have been around as long as a dinosaur like GeoCities (God knows I had a few accounts there), but we can take care of you if this is what it comes down to.  Contact us today at https://turkreno.com and find out what we can do for you!

/by

TurkReno Assisted Services for Dedicated Servers

TurkReno Cuts I.T. Overhead for Customers

New Offering from TurkReno Equals Expert Support & Great Value

Daphne, Alabama (April, 18th, 2009) – TurkReno Inc., a Professional Web Design and Computer Service, is expanding options for its dedicated server customers by adding an Assisted Service Plan – a professional solution without the traditional costs.

TurkReno’s technical support will address needed patches, backups, monitoring and vulnerability assessments.

Customers can get the power of a dedicated server without having to perform all of the administrative tasks associated with an unmanaged account such as server startup, patching and anti-virus protection. Add-on services, with the purchase of a service contract, include security scans, backup and recovery, monitoring and escalation management, at no additional fee. Custom engineering options are also available, billed at a flat hourly rate.

The plan can be added to qualified dedicated hosting accounts during the purchase process. While users are provided with a basic startup environment, TurkReno can also assist customers who have special needs. As with all dedicated servers accounts, customers can choose from a wide range of options including operating systems, RAM, hard drives, processors and firewalls. In addition, as with all TurkReno services, the plan is backed by TurkReno’s round the clock customer support.

For more information on TurkReno’s dedicated server plans, visit https://turkreno.com/contact/.

About TurkReno:

TurkReno’s mission statement consists two of parts: First, our goal is to attempt to serve our clients in any Internet Technology related issue and service. Second, our mission is to virtualize companies to exist anywhere by using the Internet.

As a company, and as individuals, we value integrity, honesty, openness, personal excellence, constructive self-criticism, continual self-improvement, and mutual respect. We are committed to our customers and partners and have a passion for technology. We take on big challenges, and pride ourselves on seeing them through. We hold ourselves accountable to our customers, shareholders, partners, and employees by honoring our commitments, providing results, and striving for the highest quality.

We have spent the previous two and a half years undergoing intense research, development and testing of our technology and strategies, while also building strong relationships within the community. We are actively servicing our networks and carry voice and data services for many business clients and telecommunications companies.

– TurkReno, Inc. –

© 2009 TurkReno Inc. All Rights Reserved.

/by