Very quick weekend recap

Now that it’s over, I can reveal what I did Saturday night… I took part in an event called “Stumbling Santa,” a toy drive for Porter-Leath. Every year, on a weekend night in December Downtowners dress up in Santa suits (or Mrs. Claus, an elf, a reindeer, etc.) and do a pub crawl. We started at Earnestine & Hazel’s at 7, which was where we dropped off our toy donations. There were so many Santas that the crowd quickly spilled outside. At 8:30 two trolleys arrived to take us to Beale Street, although there were so many Santas that two trolleys were not enough, and many people decided to just walk. We walked down Beale to entertain the tourist crowd who weren’t expecting a couple hundred Santas to show up, then hit Pat O’s. Had a Hurricane there and posed for pictures (Michael Donahue from the CA was there to cover it), then moved on to the Saucer. The Saucer was just stupid busy and the elbow-to-elbow crowd got on my nerves really fast, so I took the first chance I got to move on to the final spot on the pub crawl… Raiford’s. Of course I knew I’d have a good time there – it’s my happy place. I busted out some vintage dance moves, although cheap red Santa pants that kept wanting to fall down kept me from giving 100%. Didn’t make it to my goal of closing the place… only made it to about 2:40, then called it a night.

I got my Santa suit from Party City for $30. It really wasn’t a bad suit for the price, came with everything you need to be Santa.

They said it was their biggest crowd ever. Last year (when I heard about it but didn’t participate) I was told they had 85 people participate. This year they expected 120 but they clearly had way, way more people than that. The only downside is that the event has grown so popular that it’s outgrowing some of the venues. That’s why I only made veiled references to it in my blog in the days leading up to Stumbling Santa. Then again, if each person brought a toy, Porter-Leath made out like a bandit.

I took about 60 pictures and will post some of them at some point. Haven’t downloaded them from the camera yet.

My compliments to the organizers of the event… it was the kind of unique, off-the-wall happening that makes Downtown Memphis so much fun. My compliments also to the organizers of the St. Jude half marathon/full marathon that happened earlier in the day Saturday… I hear that one far exceeded expectations and drew somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 to 12,000 runners, raising a TON of money for St. Jude. Things just keep getting better and better down here.

Recap of yesterday: Brunch at the Majestic. Moved to the Saucer at 1:15. Listened to Pete talk trash for well over an hour. Beat him at pool TWICE and shut him up. Outlasted the rest of the brunch crew by several hours, as usual. Watched a bunch of football games I don’t care about. Maybe I need to start gambling so I’ll have a reason to watch the NFL. Lasted until a little after 8 at the Saucer, then went to Wang’s for Paul’s Drunkass Food and then home for the night. Got nine hours sleep. I feel great today.

Next Sunday: THE DEMPSEYS AT DOWNTOWN HUEY’S!!!!!!!! They take the stage at 8:30. It’s possible I may show up late for that one, though.

And now it’s time to go to work, and I’m actually looking forward to that. After 3 weeks of sitting around reading a C# book, they’re finally going to give me my first project. They tell me I’ll be writing Web services, which I’ve never done before, so I get to learn something new. Hopefully the hours will fly by.