South Main Association gets plugged in

The SMA recently upgraded their website, so that it has details of all the things they have going on currently, whereas before it had details of the upcoming May 2009 meeting.  They also have sections about dining, Trolley Tour, and shopping, and there’s a photo gallery.  Looks great!  Don’t forget that there’s an SMA meeting Tuesday night at the Center for Southern Folklore.

If you want to network with the SMA, you can follow them on Twitter at @SMAMemphis.  You can also find them on Facebook under “South Main Association.”  When I searched for them, the South Mumbai Association came up in the results as well.  I’m sure they’re an interesting group too.

Last night:  Couple of hours at the Saucer, couple of hours at Bardog, over to my friends Shawn and Joe’s place to shoot pool.  While at Bardog, my friend Christina who is organizing the Jersey Shore Pub Crawl told me that she wants to dress me up for it – she wants to give me a fake spray-on tan and the blowout hairdo that Jerz guido douchebags have.  Can a blowout really be done on hair as long as mine?  Seems like it would take an entire tube of maximum-strength gel.  And who knows how many times I’d have to wash my hair the next morning to get all that junk out.

My friend Joe cut Saucer bartender Brittney’s hair earlier in the week, and while I agree that something needs to be done about her hair, he should have had her brush it forward so it completely covers her face.  Now that he’s cut her hair, she has his cell number, and now she’s texting him all the time.  If I had Old Lazy Ass texting me all the time I think I’d flush my iPhone down the toilet.

No plans at all for the day… guess I’ll get on PokerStars and play some more Omaha Hi/Lo.

Fri update: Happenings tonight, Bardog breakfast, 5K tomorrow, more

We’ve got a Friday night coming up, but I can’t see much incentive to get out in temperatures that may drop into the single digits… hmmm… just took a look at the DowntownMemphis.com calendar for today. If you’re going to get out in this weather, my recommendation would be the opening of Local, the new gastropub in the old Sauces location. The Nuh-Uh Girl has been asking people all week, in person and on Twitter, if anyone is going, because she’s not one to pass up an opportunity for food.

Otherwise, you can look at the calendar and figure it out for yourself… if you like MMA, there’s an event tonight at the New Daisy. Grizzlies host the Utah Jazz at the FedExForum at 7.

Unless something compelling comes up, I may just stay home with the netbook and play poker… thanks to Air Traffic Mike’s recommendation, I’m starting to get into Omaha Hi/Lo. Seems like a good game, with less need for bluffing than Hold’em, and more bad players at the tables because there’s less literature out there on Omaha.

If you haven’t been for Bardog for breakfast (they open at 8 on weekdays now), check out this post on the I Love Memphis blog. It’s round 7 of the Breakfast brackets, and Bardog handily defeated CK’s. The bacon and the scrambled eggs got especially high marks, and the breakfast was also rated a good value for the money. Of course, the service at Bardog is always outstanding.

There’s a 5K taking place tomorrow between 4 and 6:30 PM, so allow for extra driving time if you’re traveling in or out of Downtown during those hours.

Hmmm I was just about to type congratulations to Alabama for their win last night, and in comes an e-mail from regular blog reader Moody asking why I haven’t bothered to say anything about the Tide, considering I blog about other SEC teams like Arkansas.  Fine then, Roll Tide.  Happy now?

Eating an antipasto salad from Blimpie as I type this… my health guru would be proud.

The Thur. evening “couldn’t care less about the football game” post

It’s Thursday evening and surprisingly, I’m not out at the Saucer.  With the BCS championship game on TV, I have no doubt it will be smoky, loud, and crowded full of dudes.  No thanks, I’ll pass.  Staying home tonight, playing poker online and about to watch TNA Impact.  I’ll switch over to the football game on commercials.  Roll Tide I guess, but I really don’t care.

I saw on Facebook that Earnestine & Hazel’s now has a website.  You can see it here.  I wonder why they don’t have a “menu” section of their site?

Speaking of menus… I see that South of Beale now has their winter menu on their site.  Mmmm venison… braised beef short rib peasant pie sounds good too.

Here’s a link to an interview that Judy Peiser of the Center for Southern Folklore did about Elvis Presley’s comfort food.

Mesquite Chop House is doing a Dogfish Head brewery dinner on Wednesday, January 27.  Menu to be released by Monday… I’ll try to link to it once it’s up.  I went to one of these a few years ago at the Saucer and it was really good – the brewery brought some beers rarely seen in this part of the country.  Plus, with Michael Patrick in the kitchen cooking, you know the food will be delicious.

The hottest team in the NBA, the Memphis Grizzlies, host the Dr. Martin Luther King Game and Celebration at the FedExForum on January 18, which is MLK Day.  NBA legends Oscar Robertson and Alonzo Mourning will be honored for their contribution to civil and human rights.  There will be a High School Classic, Melrose vs. Germantown, tipping off at 1 PM with doors open at 12:30.  Next will be an MLK Day Sports Legacy and Symposium with Robertson and Mourning sharing their experiences.  The game will tip off at 4:30, televised on TNT, with the awards ceremony prior to the game, recording artist Brian McKnight singing the national anthem, and a halftime ceremony honoring Dr. King, recognizing Robertson and Mourning and featuring a performance by McKnight.  I’ve been told you can get special ticket pricing if you call account executive Carlos directly at 901-205-1491.

I had a good time drinking my favorite beer Dos Equis Lager on Fire Sale last night at the Saucer, and got a bonus when the elusive and mysterious Kimmy Kim showed up.  Hung out and talked with her for several hours, and the fountain of knowledge known as Brick also came over several times.  Brick told us that she recently cooked a turkey.  “The part I hate most is cleaning the guts out of the inside of the turkey,” she said.  “That’s just nasty.  You know, some people put them back in and stuff the turkey with them.  I tried it once.  It was gross, trying to put all those chicken guts back in the turkey.”  I guess turkey guts magically turn into chicken guts somehow once they’ve been removed.

“Now all you’d need is a duck, and you’d have a turducken,” I told her.  Brick didn’t know what a “turducken” was.

All right, time for me to hit Publish and get serious about my poker game.  Time to make some money!

Want to help those less fortunate than you stay warm? Here are two ways

Here are a couple of ways you can give the gift of warmth and comfort this extremely cold week.

MLGW has a “Gift of Comfort” assistance program.  If there’s someone you know who is not doing so well, you can give the gift of comfort by making a payment toward their utility bill.  Get more information about this program here.

Or, you can donate to the Memphis Union Mission.  I hear they are in need of coats and blankets right now, as homeless flock to the mission in this cold weather to try to get a warm night’s sleep. 

In other news… congrats to our trivia team on a first-place win last night.  We’re now up to $250 in beer money to spend on our next big party.

I had a good night before trivia too… I decided to play an hour of $1/$2 fixed limit hold’em on PokerStars before making the trek to the Saucer. I sat down with $40 just after 5:00 and had turned it into $85 by 6:00.  I’m finding that I like fixed-limit hold’em better than no-limit for cash ring games (still prefer no-limit for tournaments though).  You can play at a higher level and accumulate frequent player points much faster.  Also, fixed-limit forces you to hone your intution and develop a fine sense of whether you have best hand.  You can’t rely solely on aggression to be a winning player.

I’ll probably do the same thing tonight, an hour of poker then the Saucer.  It’s glass night, Carlsberg I believe.

Hear the “State of Downtown” address next Tuesday at the SMA meeting

It’s time for the annual State of Downtown address given by the Center City Commission every January.  It will happen at the monthly South Main Association meeting on Tuesday, January 12 at the Center for Southern Folklore.  Featured speakers will be Leslie Gower, VP of Marketing, and Jerome Rubin, VP of Operations.  Downtown is thriving, even in the economic downturn, so come hear the speeches and find out what all is happening.  Social at 6:00, event at 6:30.

There will be a cash bar, and complimentary hors d’oeuvres catered by Neal Jackson.  Free food?  Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

The most frustrating poker hand ever

This one didn’t happen last night at the Goose, but rather in the World Record tournament I played on PokerStars the Sunday after Christmas.  It was about midway through and I had a medium-sized stack.

In early position, I was dealt AA.  Happy to see the best starting hand in no-limit hold’em, I put in a standard raise of a few times the big blind.

Player two seats to my left went all-in.  Player two seats to that player’s left called the all-in.  I happily called with my pocket rockets.

We flipped over our cards.  Player to my left had AJ.  Player to his left had A8.  I smiled, seeing that my opponents were way behind in the hand.  I was likely about to triple my stack.

Flop was interesting – 999.  I liked that flop a lot, because it improved my hand to a full house.  It would be virtually impossible for my opponents to come from behind to win.

Then the turn came and I wanted to throw my netbook across the room.  Turn was another 9.  Since hold’em takes the best five cards of seven, my opponents had now tied me – all three of us now had four of a kind, Nines, with an Ace kicker.  The river card, which was meaningless, was a deuce.

I still finished in the money, but I would’ve got much deeper into the tournament if that hand had gone my way.  Can’t win ’em all I guess.

Time to shut down the laptop and head to trivia.  I need to learn how to use the Voice Recorder app on my iPhone so I can make sure I don’t miss any pearls of wisdom that come out of Brick’s mouth.

Link to free poker tournament director software

Home from work… I just did a search and found the free poker tournament director software that Poker Jon used last night at the Silly Goose.  You can set the number of players, buy-ins, and blind structure, and the tournament software will take care of the rest and automatically inform you when it’s time for the blinds to go up.  It can even handle fixed break times, rebuys, and add-ons.  If you host poker tournaments at home, this is a neat little tool to have, and it’s free.  Get it here.

Tue update: Jersey Shore pub crawl, King Cake, Healthy Memphis Outlet, job interview help, how to do an end run around corporate firewalls, Godin app and more

I’m dead tired today.  I got to the “final table” poker tournament last night at the Silly Goose, and host Poker Jon informed us that “we’re going to do this WSOP style, with big stacks and long blind levels.  Get comfortable, you’re going to be here for a while.”  Uh oh, I thought, on a school night this doesn’t sound good.  Still, with a cruise as the grand prize I had no intention of dropping out.

Play started at 8 PM.  Tournaments at the Goose usually take a couple or three hours, but not this one.  All nine players were still there at about 10:30, and I looked at my average-sized stack and it was still more than 60 big blinds.  Not long after that, I eliminated “Satellite” who had won a tournament the week before to reach the final table.  By 1 AM it was down to two others and me.  I hadn’t eaten, I needed to get to bed and I surely wasn’t playing my best poker by that point.  I called an all-in and lost, finishing third.

So, no cruise for me.  I was trying to figure out who I’d take with me if I won… I was thinking maybe Brittney from the Saucer.  Not because I enjoy her company, but because it’d be a good chance to throw her overboard.

Poker Jon had a really cool program on his netbook that manages poker tournaments.  I’ll try to find it when I get home and post a link.  He said it’s freeware.

Ready for another themed pub crawl? There’s going to be a “Jersey Shore Pub Crawl 2K10” (search for it by that name on Facebook) on Saturday, January 30 with stops at Wet Willie’s, Silky’s, Club 152 and Republic. “Get your spray tan, your blow out, get “juiced” and join us for a crazy night of fist pumping and battling,” the event listing reads.

The Peabody deli is selling “King Cakes” this week in celebration of Elvis’ 75th birthday.  Chocolate cake with peanut butter and banana filling.  Here’s a pic.

MPACT Memphis is doing a Healthy Memphis Outlet on Tuesday, January 26 at Pearl’s Oyster House.  You can get plugged into a healthy lifestyle there.  YMCA, Church Health Center, and the Memphis Farmers’ Market will be on hand to give presentations, and you’ll be able to join MPACTive, an active lifestyle group for MPACT members.  I definitely plan on showing up for this.  Of course the Saucer is on the way to Pearl’s so it’s possible I may just go there and drink beer instead.

Couple of useful items on Lifehacker today… if you are job hunting, there’s a service called Better Talking that will help you practice job interview skills.  It will call you and ask canned interview questions, then send you a link to your interview transcript.  You can then show the transcript to friends and colleagues and get their advice.

If your company’s firewall blocks my blog, Lifehacker has a post about a service called Flexamail that lets you surf websites and social networking sites using e-mail.  They may be able to block sites, but it’s highly unlikely they’ll block e-mail.  Yay for Flexamail for sticking it to the man.  I can understand blocking Facebook or something like that, but my blog is a valuable public service that should never be blocked.  I mean, how else are you going to keep up with what the Nuh-Uh Girl has been eating?

If you’re a fan of marketing guru Seth Godin’s blog, it’s now available as an iPhone app.

Eating a bacon double cheeseburger from Burger King as I type this.  Mmmm bacon.  All right, I’m getting mustard on the keyboard so I’m going to hit Publish and be done.  Trivia tonight at 7.  I hope Brick is working so she can share more of her knowledge with our team.

Final table/good poker karma

I’ve been notified that I need to be at the Silly Goose at 7:30.  Over the past 9 weeks, the top winners in their weekly poker tournaments have accumulated points.  The top 9 point-holders earn a seat at the “final table,” which is tonight, with the winner getting a big prize, I think a cruise for two.  I was told I have a seat at the final table.  Not exactly sure what I’d do if I won a cruise for two, since I have neither a girlfriend nor vacation time.

Still, I’m hoping to win… I’ve been trying to build good poker karma lately.  When I’ve played online tournaments, I’ve noticed how many rude players there are… people who get knocked out, and then get on the chat box and cuss out the person who beat them.  So, the past few times I’ve been eliminated in online tournaments, I’ve typed the following in the chat box:

“nh enjoyed playing with all of you gl everyone”  (nh = nice hand, gl = good luck, common poker chat box abbreviations)

I figure maybe it will help me build up some good poker karma, which maybe I can cash in tonight.