Month: December 2009

One of the RSS feeds I have on my Google homepage is LifeHacker, and there were a couple of posts I saw on that site today that seemed very useful.

First of all, they posted about a program named WinFontsView that displays all the fonts on your Windows system. This is incredibly helpful when I’m trying to design a website or flyer, and I’m looking for the perfect font to use for a heading. Until now I’ve had to fire up OpenOffice Writer or Microsoft Word and look at all the fonts on the dropdown menu, but that’s a rather inconvenient way to view all my fonts. This should be very handy.

Here’s one for Comcast customers: Have you ever experienced periods where there’s nothing wrong with your cable modem’s signal, and yet when you try to pull up websites it says, “Looking up www.website.com…” for an eternity before informing you that it could not locate the site. This is usually a sign that Comcast’s DNS server is screwed up. DNS is the service that looks up a website’s name (like paulryburn.com) and connects it to an IP address (like 63.36.122.205 – not my real IP address by the way, I just made that up). As an alternative to your Internet provider’s DNS, you can point to Google’s new Public DNS instead. More info here. If you’re a complete novice you should probably leave this one alone, but if you’re somewhat familiar with network settings this is worth a try.

Main Street Hound Dogs, the hot dog vendor at the corner of Main and Union at lunchtime on good weather weekdays, has come up with a couple of new innovations recently. Last week they started serving “U Dirty Dog,” which is their take on a chili dog. Well, today, they realized that they already have chili, and they already have Fritos, so why not add chili Fritos to the menu. Fritos with a scoop of chili for $2.50. Follow them on Twitter at @mainsthounddogs to keep up with their latest menu items.

The South Main Association is looking for members and friends to march in the holiday parade this Saturday. If interested meet them at Main and Georgia between 3:30 and 4. The parade starts at 5. The SMA is one of the first to march down the street, so you can be a part of it and still be done in time to see the rest of the parade.

And finally, this Monday, December 7 is the Beale Street Merchants Association fundraiser, a Casino Night benefiting the Church Health Center and Variety, the Children’s Charity. See flyer below for details (click to view in a larger size).

That’ll do it for this evening.  I have a couple of rants saved to Drafts that I’ll probably publish morning and noontime tomorrow, plus whatever news comes along.

Question asked by one of my blog’s readers:  Are any bars or restaurants going to open early for the St. Jude Marathon/Half-Marathon Saturday morning?  The person who asked wants to come out and watch, but she and her friends don’t really want to stand outside in 40-degree weather the entire 2-3 hours.  Will anyplace on the route be open early where they can take refuge?  E-mail me at paul@paulryburn.com if you know of a place and I’ll pass on the information.

Just made a lunchtime run to Walgreens to pick up a toy for this Saturday’s Stumbling Santa Pub Crawl… and instead, I came back with 3 toys.  What can I say, I’m an overachiever.  Since the Saucer is matching toy for toy, that means Ronald McDonald House will end up with 6 new toys.  If you plan on doing the pub crawl, remember that Ronald McDonald House cannot accept stuffed animals.  I imagine that’s because many kids will be playing with these toys, and stuffed animals are germ magnets.  Most other types of toys are okay.

For those of you who go to the Saucer for lunch, be sure to say happy birthday to Mrs. Pat in the kitchen… tomorrow is her 50th birthday.

More Saucer news:  They’re doing a Beerknurd Appreciation Party, a private party for members of their UFO Club, on Saturday, December 12 from 5 to 7 PM.  There will be a free buffet, you’ll get a pint of Stone beer, and you’ll be entered into a raffle for prizes.  If you’re not a UFO member, you still have a week to join.  You can get there anytime between 5 and 7, but I recommend showing up right at 5, before the Nuh-Uh Girl gets there and eats all the food.  The Facebook event listing says this is Thursday the 10th, but I’ve confirmed that Saturday the 12th, as posted in the Saucer, is actually the correct day.

Finally the rain has moved out of here… think I’ll take the netbook out tonight and play a little poker while I drink beer.  Been trying to get good at 7-card stud… I played it in college but am having to re-learn it because it’s a limit bet game and therefore very different from no-limit hold’em.  I played for an hour yesterday and played way too many hands… lost a few dollars but it was an education.  I’ll try to use better starting hand selection tonight.

I’m mentally preparing a post on the proposed panhandling ordinance with tougher restrictions… I know what I want to say, but lunch break is almost over, so it will be tonight or tomorrow morning before work before I get it typed.  Happy Thursday and maybe I’ll see you out tonight.

Lots of assorted stuff today… first of all, congrats to the trivia team on a first-place victory last night! We were sure we were in trouble after we got only 1 out of 7 right on the third-round bonus question, but everyone else missed it too.

The Memphis Flyer is having their monthly “Work It Wednesday” happy hour tonight, and this time they’re taking the show on the road to Midtown. It will be at the Beauty Shop from 5 to 7 PM tonight, with 10% off menu items, $5 house wines, and $2.50 domestics. Good excuse to do a little Hump Day drinking and mingling with the staff of the Flyer.

I saw on Twitter today that Skatelife Memphis has received a $2500 grant from Nike. They will use the money to build a mini-halfpipe at the Greenlaw Community Center. Congratulations to them, and yay for more family-friendly amenities in Uptown.

The DNA and SMA are combining to have a holiday party at the Metro 67 apartments on Sunday, December 20, from 6 to 9 PM. Free to all members of either organization, cash bar, door prizes, and various restaurants providing the food. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up. Nice to see the two organizations working together, so members of one group can get more familiar with the other.

Wow that means I’ll have four days of parties in a row… got my building’s party on the 17th… a party at a South Main condo on the 18th… my plate party on the 19th… and the DNA/SMA party on the 20th. The weekend before Christmas is gonna be a busy one.

Guys, if you’re thinking about buying some new clothes, I have a suggestion for you… do it on Sunday. If you bring a Sunday brunch receipt from any Downtown restaurant to Shelton Clothiers in December, they will give you $20 off a purchase of $150 or more. So you’re basically getting free brunch. Trying to decide where to eat? My suggestion would be right next door, at the Majestic Grille. Try the smoked salmon hash browns, or one of the fritattas, or the breakfast named after Downtown legend John D.

Ladies, if you want to shop at Shelton for the man in your life, might want to do it this Thursday, December 3, or on Thursday, December 17. You’ll receive a bonus of a gift card good for 15% of the amount of your purchase. You can pass along the card as a gift, or use it yourself the next time you shop Shelton. Also, wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served on those nights. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

More shopping savings down the street at Lansky at the Peabody… they sent out an e-mail yesterday containing a 25% off coupon, and they gave me permission to post the link for my readers… get the coupon here.

Heavy rain headed this way… hope it’s gone by the end of the workday.  Sunset Wheat is the fire sale so it’s a pretty safe bet I’ll be out after work, even if I have to walk in the rain.

If you own a Blackberry and want to try the Foursquare app, there’s now a beta version available for your phone. Get it here.

Don’t forget that tomorrow, Wednesday, December 2, is the Majestic Grille’s 50% off gift card sale. Doors open at 9 AM and you must buy them in person.

I pick on the Saucer from time to time on my blog, but I have to give them major kudos for something they’re doing this weekend. They’re the first stop on Saturday’s Stumbling Santa Pub Crawl (7 PM) and they’re asking everyone who participates to bring a toy for the Ronald McDonald House from this list. Here’s the cool thing: The Saucer is going to match donations toy for toy. So, if you bring a toy, TWO kids will get a Christmas present. Very, very nice. I guess it’s time to pull my Santa suit from 2007 out of the storage room and see if it’s in good enough shape to use again.

By the way: The collection box for the toys is already set up. It’s next to the UFO computer, near the bathrooms. So if you can’t make it Saturday, you can still drop off a toy. If you can make it Saturday, why not drop off a toy now and then another one Saturday? Then you’ll make Christmas better for four kids.

I finished second at the 7:30 poker tournament at the Silly Goose last night. They had two tables going, and Josh took out the entire other table with an all-in. Thus he arrived at my table with a huge stack. I was just too far behind when it got down to him and me heads-up. Congrats to Josh on a fine victory. At least I earned points toward the final table, which I think will be played in two weeks.

Trivia night at 7 PM… I should have time to get in one $13 turbo 6-max Sit’n’Go on PokerStars before I head up there.