When I was a kid, our family used to have pizza parties. I know this isn't terribly unusual. What is a little different is that the prepartions often started first thing in the morning. My dad would get up and make the dough. We would wait for it to rise and sometime mid to late morning I would get to "punch it down". We would wait for it to rise again and then roll it out on the pizza pan that had readied with olive oil and corn meal. Of course the sauce was homemade and selecting the ingredients was big deal too.

We did the standard family gatherings with pizza too. There were favorite pizza restaurants, carry-out, delivery and even the frozen pizzas from the grocery store. One of the things that I have come to appreciate is that while pizza is a staple of the American diet, everyone does things a little differently. We all have what I refer to as our pizza issues.

Pizza issues can refer to the toppings or how a pizza is made. Do you fold that large brooklyn style slice in half length-wise? Do you eat the crust or leave it behind? Everyone has their issues.

Personally I like just about anything on a pizza. When gathering with a group deciding what to order I will usually just say, "order the most interesting pizza that everyone else can agree on." The conversation almost always starts with people saying they like anything on their pizza. It makes me smile. I suggest the super supreme and then the objections begin. "Actually, I don' like black olives... Can we only do mushrooms on half?" I used to get a little annoyed. Now I am just amused.

Just about eveyrone loves pizza. I love it not just because it tastes great, but because it is so great at bringing people together. You open the menu and check your options and the debate begins. Or bettter yet, you hit the produce section and deli at the store with dad picking out just the right ingredients for the pizza party.

We live at a time when there is a lot of discussion about connecting with people, but we seem to struggle with how to do that more and more. At interGen we know that the website isn't the connection, it is merely the tool that helps to facilitate it. We love connecting with our clients, learning about their challenges and developing solutions to meet their needs.

Why pizza? We feel like it is a great metaphor for what we hope to deliver in your web site. It is a chance to gather around, discuss the options, identify issues, and come up with great solutions. Like no other food pizza helps us... create ∙ together.