Paul Ryburn’s Journal

If you have feedback about the recent switch of Riverside Drive from 4 lanes for vehicles to 2, don’t forget that there’s a community meeting about the street tonight. It’s at Beale Street Landing, 251 S. Riverside Drive, at 6:00 this evening.

Important bacon news: There will be a bacon lovers’ Dishcrawl at three restaurants in Memphis on August 13.

The Grizzlies have announced an official Memphis Grizzlies Tennessee license plate. They need 1000 pre-sale orders for the plates to be produced, and once they have the 1000 it will take 4-5 months to produce the plates.

Speaking of the Grizzlies, they’ve dropped the “interim” from Chris Wallace’s general manager title, and signed him to a long-term extension. A good move.

Local cat lady @stephMEM tweeted some exciting news yesterday. A cat circus is coming to Memphis this fall. It will be in the Evergreen Theatre in Midtown in November. Cats will push shopping carts, ride skateboards, and perform other tricks. Also a band made up of cats will perform.

Also in November, Terri Lee Freeman will take over as president of the National Civil Rights Museum. It sounds like they made an excellent hire, someone who will work to increase national and international awareness of the museum.

Social networks screwing up their apps, part 1: Facebook is moving all messaging to its Messenger app. If you try to send messages via Facebook’s mobile app, you’ll be told to go download Messenger. Not a big fan of this decision.

Nor am I a fan of something Foursquare did. It is now forcing users to switch to Swarm to check in. That I don’t mind, but Foursquare went and screwed up the best thing it had going: mayorships. There is no more “mayor” concept, in that the person who checked in the most at a place over the past 60 days became mayor. Instead you get a crown sticker for having checked in the most days of any of your friends. So my 2+ year reigns as mayor of Flying Saucer and Blind Bear have come to an end. BOOOOOOO!!!!

The Midtown Aldo’s Pizza Pies that is opening soon will have a rooftop patio.

That’ll do it for now. Back this evening or tomorrow with more news.

Sitting at Blind Bear with the netbook waiting to do my thing. In the meantime, here’s a pic of Christie in a tube top.

BREAKING NEWS AND IT’S GREAT NEWS: A contract to purchase the Tennessee Brewery has been signed, saving the building for demolition.

I saw a quote on Twitter today that describes my job to a T: “This is front-end dev… 10 hours of fun times building cool things, 10 hours of making it work in IE.” Exactly! Is there a web developer out there who cannot relate to that?

New event at Bardog’s alley party/fundraiser for St. Jude which is set for Sunday, August 17: For $10 you can race a Yuengling motorized cooler for the chance to win one to take home. Sounds like fun and a prize that many Downtowners will have an interest in. Seriously, don’t miss this party, and taking a vacation day on the 18th would not be a bad idea.

The Flyer has a good article about Riverfront Bar and Grill in Beale Street Landing. It will give you a good idea what to expect at this new restaurant, which recently obtained its liquor license.

Here’s info on a wine tasting dinner happening at Paulette’s on Tuesday, August 5.

From Lifehacker: There are some websites that will not let you use your fingers to zoom in when you’re using iOS. Here’s a workaround that lets you zoom in on those sites anyway.

Off to Bardog. I’m on call for work so I’ll be in and out tonight.

Circus headlines the Peabody rooftop party tonight. The cover is $10, but if you’re female or a hotel guest you can get in free before 7:00. Admission includes a buffet of smoked Polish sausage, sauerkraut, peppers & onions, and rolls. If you’re in VIP there’s a second buffet of weiner schnitzel sliders, bratwurst, and German potato salad.

Steel Magnolias will be on the big screen tonight at the Orpheum. Movie at 7, but doors open at 6 and you can come early for drink specials and pre-movie activities.

Memphis Made Brewing Co. is expanding. They have added three new fermenters to more than double their beer production. This move happened faster than expected, but demand for Memphis Made beer is high. The brewery currently distributes beer in kegs and bottles to more than 60 restaurants, bars, grocery stores, and liquor stores. Visit the brewery’s website here.

There will be a summer pup pool party this Saturday, beginning at 10 AM, at Downtown dog park The Barking Lot at N. Main and Jefferson. In addition to pools for splashing, your dog will be able to enjoy licking ice sculptures made especially for pets. Donations to Mid-South Spay and Neuter will be accepted, either monetary donations or in-kind. Top in-kind needs are distilled water, paper towels, stamps, and copy paper.

The Iron Sheik the real, he not the jabroni like the Tito Santana. He in Rolling Stone, you read or otherwise go f*** yourself.

Funny moment at the Silly Goose last night. One of my friends asked, “So what’s up with that weird guy who follows you around everywhere? I guess he didn’t follow you today?”

“No, that’s him, sitting six seats down the bar from you, eating Thai meatballs and pita points and taking pictures of his food,” I said. Then I showed her a picture of him that has gone viral lately, of him holding a beer at Bardog after he got drunk at a beer festival and fell down in the mud. He had on his still-muddy shirt and a red, white and blue headband in the pic. ‘Merica!

Plans for tonight: If you didn’t see this morning’s post, Jessica will be tending bar at Silly Goose in a tube top at happy hour today, so I guess I don’t need to tell you where I will be. Most likely you can expect a tube top pic on the blog tomorrow.

Still at work, waiting for very heavy rain to move out of Horn Lake and points north on I-55 before I drive home. I have an absolute phobia of driving in the rain. Since it’s past official quitting time, I might as well type up a post while I wait.

The first of several Food Truck Fridays will happen on the FedExForum Plaza this Friday, June 25 from 11 AM to 1 PM. Several food trucks will be on hand. There will be Grizzlies and FedExForum promotions each week. This Friday, you’ll have the chance to win Michael Buble tickets for the 30th. Arena escorts will be there to assist those who would like to test-drive season tickets.

I haven’t officially confirmed this, but I have seen from a lot of folks on Twitter that Frank’s Deli at Main and Vance is closing. That’s a shame for South Main because it’s the only place within walking distance to get basic grocery needs. I haven’t yet heard about anything going into that space after Frank’s leaves, but it’s on a prime corner and next to the Green Beetle so I doubt it will stay empty long.

AutoZone Park has been recognized by PETA for its vegan offerings. Choices include dogs, wraps, spicy black bean burgers, fruit cups, and pasta primavera salad.

The Daily News has an article by Andre Fowlkes of Start Co. on how Teach for America is leveraging Start Co.’s services.

Want to work at Main and Union? RocketFuel is looking for a web designer.

All right. Rain is finally letting up. I’ll be out at the usual spots in a little while, with trips home to post results as they come in from work.