Paul Ryburn’s Journal

I’m at Otherlands in Midtown, using their Wi-Fi to do a lunch hour blog post. First time I’ve been in here in a while… they’ve really improved this place. They got rid of the gift shop and converted the whole thing into seating. Cool!

Hang on, here’s e-mail. “A friend posted a new comment about you on [...]

Click here for the rest of the pics

This is my first attempt using the Coppermine photo gallery software on my server, so I hope everything turned out all right. If there are any problems with the pics let me know. Thanks to Chad for supplying the first 14 pics in the album; the ones [...]

It’s time to go international with one of this blog’s most popular features, “What the bums are drinking this week.”

Now, we already know what the bums in Memphis are drinking this week: Mad Dog 20/20 fortified wine. But over in merry old England, the bums drink Mad Dogs & Englishmen Shiraz Cabernet, pictured below.

Just [...]

For once I actually enjoy smelling my dirty laundry.

Have you ever gone to Starbucks, and then come home and noticed that your clothes smell like coffee? Or have you ever gone to a bar, and then come home and noticed that your clothes smell like nasty, disgusting cigarettes?

Well, the clothes I wore to BBQ Fest [...]

FUN BBQ FEST FACT: In 1968, the Yippie Party nominated a pig named Pigasus for president of the United States.

Y’know, if Mayor Herenton wants to do something to improve his popularity, I have a suggestion for him: Declare the Friday of BBQ Fest a citywide holiday. Encourage local businesses to give their employees [...]

This is a link to an Eyewitness News (ABC 24/UPN 30) story about a dumpster dispute between Wendell Price, the owner of Wendell’s World Beat Grill on South Main, and his neighbors. Click on the link and read the story, and be sure to WATCH THE VIDEO (there’ll be a link on the page that [...]

I’m sitting here trying to figure out how anyone managed to do BBQ Fest without cell phones. I’ll be meeting up with several of my neighbors and other downtown friends over the course of the evening tonight. Between the lot of us we have about 11 booth invitations, and a few of the people [...]

- Today I was reading a recap of WWE Monday Night Raw on one of the pro wrestling sites, and I came across one of the best euphemisms for defecation that I’ve ever heard. The guy said he missed the wrestling legends/classic footage portion of the show because he had to go “drop a deuce.” [...]

Progressive radio talk show host Leon Gray will be speaking at this month’s Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting, tomorrow night (Thursday, May 18) at the Blue Plate Cafe on Court Square. The meeting will have a social hour beginning at 7:00 and Leon will speak at 7:45. Leon’s radio show is on Progressive Talk 680 [...]

I just logged into my account on Verizon, and discovered that I’m close enough to the end of my 2-year contract that they’re willing to bribe me with $100 off to buy a new phone and start a new contract. So I’ve been looking at the cell phone/PDAs and checking out reviews on websites, and [...]