Month: April 2010

This morning I plugged in the camera and downloaded some random pics from this weekend.  Let’s see what we’ve got.

Friday afternoon: Band playing at Handy Park for the Spirit of Memphis pep rally

Friday night: Fire pit at Robert & Gloria’s cookout

Saturday afternoon: I tried Miss Polly’s Soul City Cafe on Beale for the first time.  I had the 3-piece white chicken meal with taters & gravy and white beans & ham.  Very good!  Kudos also to doorman Mark, who got me from “hmmm it’s an option” to “I’m going to try this today.”  Mark is the talkative guy who used to be at Frank’s Deli on South Main.

Saturday evening:  Hannah models the Saucer’s newest beer, created by brewmaster Bicycle Bobby.  Hang on, let’s zoom in on that label and see what it says…

“Brittney Ale.  Poison.”  It will probably be the Fire Sale today.

Saturday night: Mikey drinks beer from the trophy Calhoun’s gave him for being at the bar 90-some-odd consecutive days.

There was one more pic I wanted to post, but couldn’t get it to turn out right.  Christy (previously seen on this blog chowing down on cheese fries) was getting down with her bad self at Calhoun’s.  Sensing a photo opp, I whipped out the camera from across the bar, set the zoom to 6x, and snapped a pic.  Unfortunately the camera focused on the bar’s tap handles and there was no way I could edit the photo to anything decent.  So Christy escaped the blog this time.  There will be other opportunities, I’m sure.

Forecast is sunny and around 80 all week… looking good.  Going to take a shower and then head to Sunday Fun Day.

The fountain of knowledge known as Brick celebrates a birthday today.  Happy birthday Brick!

I’m sure someone will ask me, how old is Brick?  I honestly don’t know.  She stopped counting when she turned 20.  Not because she’s afraid of getting older, but because she ran out of fingers and toes.

If you’re a fan of menu website MarksMenus, there’s now a MarksMenus app available for the iPhone.  Check out this Commercial Appeal story for details.

I mentioned earlier that @jameshutto is a good person to follow on Twitter for social media tips.  He posted a good one yesterday – a link to an article about 52 social media sites that every marketer should know.  Great article and there were several sites I was not even aware of.  Thanks!

Prediction:  In the next year, companies that serve the public will start banning employees from checking in on Foursquare.  I mean, it’s one thing when people check in at Medtronic or FedEx World HQ – those are office buildings.  But it seems like bars and restaurants lose a valuable chance to get to know who their best customers are when employees check in every day and claim the mayorship.  Wouldn’t you want to know who keeps coming to your bat/restaurant because they want to, not because they’re required to?

(And no, I didn’t lose my mayorship of the Saucer, in case anyone’s wondering.  Not even the managers are there enough to steal my mayorship.  It’s other places where I check in Downtown where I see it being an issue.)

Have you voted for Google Fiber and the skate park today? Links at the top of my right sidebar.

Great Groupon deal today:  One night at the Inn at Hunt Phelan for $99. It’s up to a $299 value.  Folks who live in other parts of Memphis, this would be a great way to experience Downtown as a local for one night, at one of the neighborhood’s finest places to stay.

Fun night last night.  I attended the “Spirit of Memphis” rally at Handy Park, where I heard some great music and got to see two musicians inducted into the Beale Street Walk of Fame.  I really am thrilled about the Spirit of Memphis rallies.  For years it’s been perceived as cool to put Memphis down because the person next to you does too… it’s time people started getting together and speaking up and saying that Memphis is GREAT!  The Downtown Download blog has a new post about the rally.

After that I stopped by the Saucer for a beer… I managed to choke down Schlafly Coffee Stout, one of the nastiest beers on the menu, because it was on Fire Sale and I needed it for my plate.  The repulsiveness of the stout was enhanced even further by Otto sitting next to me and running his mouth about what a great beer it is.  Yuk!  Better than Turbo Dog though.

After that I headed south to Robert & Gloria’s for their cookout.  They were testing wing recipes for Hot Wing Fest next weekend, and we were happy to provide feedback.  The 24 oz. PBRs never materialized but the 12 oz. cans were just fine with me.  Thanks for a great evening.

Speaking of Hot Wing Fest… the wing/BBQ team I’m on, The Ques Brothers, will be competing as well.  We’ve got an awesome sponsor lined up and it should be a great day.  It starts at 10 AM, which means I’m gonna have to go to bed at a reasonable hour next Friday night so I can be there.

Time to set up some more affiliate marketing stuff, so I’ll hit Publish now.  Hmmm this is work that could be done at the Second Street Branch Office, perhaps I should pack up a computer in the backpack.

Have you voted for Google Fiber and an inner-city skate park for Memphis today? Use the links at the top of my blog’s right sidebar.

In the news: One of the greatest Supreme Court Justices of modern times, John Paul Stevens, is retiring. More here.

Downtown Memphis is participating in national Bike to Work Day Friday, May 21. Those who live and work Downtown are invited to rediscover the bike as a means of transportation on that day. More details here.

A helicopter will be placing AC units on the top of One Commerce Square tomorrow at 7 AM. So I guess I can forget about sleeping late on a Saturday. Well, either that or I need to get so wasted tonight that I don’t even hear the helicopter, which is what happened the last time it showed up.

After work tonight I’m attending the Spirit of Memphis pep rally in Handy Park from 5:30 to 7. Speeches by Roby Williams and Kevin Kane, footage of old and new Beale, and a ceremony inducting R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough onto Beale’s Brass Note Walk of Fame. Come out and celebrate Memphis!

After that I gotta head to the Saucer for one beer… I’ve got to keep checking in, now that I know Venus is trying to steal the mayorship from me on Foursquare.

After that I’m heading to South Main for a party in friends’ parking lot. They told me about it last week. “Yeah we’re going to have a big cookout and maybe even live music,” they said. “You should come down.”

“Sounds like fun, I may have to swing by,” I thought.

“We’re cooking a bunch of wings,” they told me. “We have a team in Hot Wing Fest on the 17th, and we need to get feedback on wing recipes.”

“Sounds good, maybe I’ll head down to South Main,” I thought. (I also thought, “Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.”)

Then they told me, “We’re going to have PBR. 24 ounce tallboys from the cash & carry.”

I thought, “PBR TALLBOYS? I’M THERE!!!!”

So that’s the plan for the evening. Probably an additional stop after the cookout… not sure where.

I’ve discovered that Gmail is very helpful getting my taxes done. Since I own over 40 domains, I have domains and hosting accounts auto-renewing all throughout the year. It can be hard to round all those up, which of course I want to do, since they’re business expenses.

Here’s what I do… my domain e-mail account (paul@paulryburn.com) is forwarded to my Gmail address, simply because I find Gmail’s web interface superior to that of any standalone e-mail client I’ve tried. In Gmail you can apply labels to e-mails. So as Godaddy order confirmations come in, I simply label them “tax” with the current year (“tax09,” “tax10,” etc.) Then, when it comes time to compute business expenses related to hosting, I just pull up everything with that label. This saves me hours of digging through mail.

The second season of Jersey Shore has started filming. I hate to report on anything those morons do, but US Magazine ran a pic of JWoww on a treadmill, in a tube top. Gotta link to that. The article said she really didn’t want to do a second season, and was crying when she found out it had been picked up. So why didn’t she just quit then? I find it hard to believe they had multi-year contracts, and even if they did, I find it hard to believe a good lawyer couldn’t get her out of it.

The Red Rooster’s grand opening has been moved back to April 28th, according to their Facebook page.

I’ve added “vote” links to the “announcements” section in the upper right corner of my blog.  There you can vote once a day for Memphis in a poll for which city should get Google Fiber (until May 5); and for funding for an inner-city skate park that will benefit the kids and community in Binghampton.  I’ve had a couple of people ask me to ask people to vote for those every day – this way, I can do it without repeating myself in 30 blog posts.  I’ve also updated the countdown timer for Tube Top Month 2010 and put it back on the blog’s right sidebar.

Gonna get some cleaning done around the apartment, then decide whether I feel like going out… last non-rooftop Thursday for 4 1/2 months, so perhaps I should stay home and rest.

The Memphis Business Journal is reporting that the Center City Commission has narrowed its search for a new president to 20 candidates. The CCC has asked consulting firm HRS Inc. to proceed with round two of testing and interviewing. They hope to have the position filled, replacing the retiring Jeff Sanford, in June.

There are some names Downtowners will definitely recognize among the applicants who made the cut. They include

• Andy Kitsinger, current CCC director of planning and development
• Myron Lowery, City Council member and former Mayor Pro Tem of Memphis
• Paul Morris, shareholder at Martin, Tate, Morrow & Marston PC, and past chair of the CCC board of directors (as well as my across-the-hall neighbor at Number 10 for five years)
• Eric Robertson, current CCC chief administrative officer
• Jerome Rubin, former City Council member and current CCC VP of Operations
• “That Other Downtown Guy” Lee Warren, owner and principal of Around Downtown Consulting – you know him from the “Definitely Downtown!” TV show

There are also numerous candidates from economic development agencies in other major US cities. I can’t help rooting for one of the hometowners to get the job, but in the end, may the best candidate win. They’re going to have big shoes to walk in, given the job Jeff has done all these years.

Staying home tonight, probably.  I don’t feel like dealing with the storms that are headed this way.

Now that the application for Google Fiber has been submitted, Google is inviting everyone to go to the Google Fiber website and vote in the poll. Everyone please go there and vote for Memphis! You can vote once a day for the next 30 days – well, next 29 actually, because the poll started yesterday.

I received the Circa e-mail newsletter this morning, and in it was a note that the Main-Peabody Place monthly block parties will return Thursday, April 15! There are many award-winning restaurants and businesses on that block, and they team up to throw a party the third Thursday of the month when the weather’s nice. Parties are early (5:30-7:30) so you have plenty of time to hit the Peabody or Madison rooftop parties as well.

If you’re into wine, you’ll definitely want to stop by Circa at the block party. Select Reserve List wines, normally $80-120, will be 50% off. The 15th is the only night this special will be available. Chef John Bragg will be grilling on the patio with complimentary appetizers (free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up), and they’ll have $4 French Ice Picks in souvenir Circa stadium cups.

The e-mail newsletter also listed new additions to the menu, including Pan Roasted Halibut with Potato-Crab “Crush” and Roasted Pepper Coulis. Hey Air Traffic Mike, the halibut made it! If you’re not on their e-mail list, you also missed out on several more menu announcements, a wine dinner announcement, and a chance to win dinner for 2. Go to their website to sign up.

If you’re into Memphis history, set the DVR to record WKNO-TV Thursday night, April 22, at 9 PM. A new film called Citizens Not Subjects will discuss Boss Crump’s rule of Memphis, and how three people dared challenge him.

That’s all for now… not sure if I’ll go out tonight or not… I’ll see how the weather’s looking when I get home.

Sorry for the lack of a lunchtime post… was away from the computer.

The April meeting of the South Main Association has been announced! It will be next Tuesday, April 13, at Boscos/Ghost River brewery at the corner of Main and Crump. Terry Lynch, president of The Southland Companies, will speak on the topic “Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full?” Social at 6, meeting at 6:30, with food and Boscos beer compliments of the brewery.

Free food? Wonder if the Nuh… WHOA! FREE BOSCOS BEER??? Never mind the Nuh-Uh Girl, wonder if I’LL show up!

While we’re on the topic of South Main… the CCC is inviting all South Main residents and stakeholders to a meeting to discuss streetscape improvements to the area. Specifically, the blocks of Main between Linden and St. Paul will be considered. Ritchie Smith Associates, the project consultant, will present preliminary designs, answer questions, and document your comments and concerns. Meeting will be Thursday, April 8, in the meeting room on the ground floor of Central Station (use the G.E. Patterson entrance).

This Is A Great Idea Dept: Today KFC announced that they will roll out a new sandwich, using pieces of chicken as the “bread.” What will be in the middle? Bacon, of course! And cheese and sauce. Yum yum… can’t wait to have one! I can hear my health guru groaning already. Here’s a USA Today article with more info.

Sign that I spend too much time at the bar: I just typed “And cheese and saucer” in the paragraph above. Glad I caught it before hitting Publish.

I didn’t know I could find any more reasons to hate Karl Rove, George W’s advisor, but I got one today. He was in Knoxville signing his new book, and he commented, “Any place where they play football and wear orange is fine by me.” That must mean he likes Texas too – wow TWO more reasons to hate Rove, now that I think about it. Maybe I should buy a copy of his book. Might come in handy, since I’m running low on toilet paper.

It’s Super Tuesday at Kooky Canuck, with their menu of 34 oz. mixed drinks on sale for only $5. Terry who bartends there posted on Facebook that a new Signature Cocktail will debut tonight. “It tastes like summer,” he wrote.

If you’re into opera and you work Downtown, head to the Main Street Mall in front of the Belz Museum at lunchtime tomorrow, April 7. At 12:00 Opera Memphis will perform a piece from Madame Butterfly. Show opens April 17.

Oh I cannot believe I have forgotten to mention this… CONGRATS TO THE RAPSCALLIONS ON FINDING THE EASTER KEG!!! It was a team effort. I kept up with the clues and figured out where the keg was located, Air Traffic Mike let us know when they put the keg out, Frank went and got it, and Clay brought it in. That won us a $100 bar tab, which we’ll probably throw in with the rest of our trivia winnings for our next party. That gives us $325 and we still have well over a month before any certificates expire. Go team! I want to break the five hundred mark for a party – we’ve come close but have not yet hit it.

Time to head to trivia and earn another 50 to throw into the party tab!

I’ve had several people admire my little netbook, and say they’re thinking about getting one for themselves.  I just saw this sale on OnSale.com:

Gateway LT2032u Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz 10.1″ Netbook with 7 hours of battery life (6-cell Li-ion)- 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD ONLY $274.99

It’s $75 off list price for a limited time. With a 7-hour battery, this is a really good deal.

(Disclosure:  That there is an affiliate link.  You buy through that link, I get paid commission.  Still, though, I wouldn’t blog about it if I didn’t think this was a great value.)

Friday night I stopped by Circa for a snack with my friend Air Traffic Mike…  I got the prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, pictured below.  $8 for 6 of them, not a bad deal at all.

While we were there, John Bragg brought out a sample of a new halibut dish that he’s considering putting on the menu.  I didn’t get a pic of it but Air Traffic Mike has a pic on his blog.  I agree with Mike, it needs to go on the menu IMMEDIATELY.  If it makes the menu, be sure to ask for advice on a wine pairing with this dish.  Thanks to John for a fantastic dinner.  When the Nuh-Uh Girl found out about it, she said, “You got to try the halibut?  Where was MY phone call???”

Mike has some pics of the Warehouse party and the Squeal Street fund-raiser on his blog too.  He did a better job than I did taking pics this weekend.

It’s 5:30 and I’ve decided I am going to make it to Pint Nite.  Will probably stay there through the championship game.