As good as all that looks, BBQ from the more famous chains makes me a little bit wary. A few weeks ago, on the road for work, we stopped at Rendezvous in Memphis, supposedly one of the nation's great rib joints. The ribs weren't bad by any means, but the huge restaurant was serving hundreds of people a night and you could tell they were cranking out so many ribs at once that nobody was able to give each rack the attention it really deserved.

The best ribs I've ever had were from a little place called Cooter Brown's in Jacksonville, AL (fifteen minutes north of I-20, more or less halfway between Atlanta and Birmingham). Sweet with an incredible dry rub and the sort of perfect texture that tells you someone was giving them the care they needed. I happened to live in the neighborhood for work about a year back, and every time I went the rack I got was just as good as the one before. I doubt they ship, but if you ever find yourself heading down I-20 and getting hungry, it's worth the detour.

The Dell laptop I got a year ago came with some Creative earbuds that actually turned out to be pretty darn comfortable. They're not high-end by any means, but earbuds like the ones that come with iPods just cause me pain.

I enjoy supporting Child's Play http://www.childsplaycharity.org/ , the charity founded by the guys behind Penny Arcade. They take toys and cash and distribute them to children's hospitals all over.