Month: March 2015

If you came here to read about the things happening Downtown tonight, here they are: ice, sleet, and snow. It’s expected to start late afternoon and we could get 1-3″ of sleet and 1-3″ of snow. Leave work early if you can. I left at noon and am working from home for the rest of the day. BBQ Fest 2014 load-in is proof that I can get a great deal of work done from a remote location.

There’s already some flooding on 240 northbound at about mile marker 26.6, so be careful if you take that route home. Flooding was across all three lanes and I had to slow down to 35 to get through it.

Cozy Corner will soon be reopening across the street from its original location on North Parkway. Join this Facebook event for updates.

The Washington Post has a scientific explanation of why Indian food is so delicious. Pretty interesting. So nice to live a block and a half away from a market with Indian food in the grab & go.

Tony Allen was suspended by the Grizzlies for last night’s game with Utah. An altercation in practice with Nick Calathes is said to be the reason.

Decide what style of beer you want to drink with this flow chart. I needed to answer only one question to arrive at my beer of choice, PBR.

Watch a car get rammed by a bison in Yellowstone National Park.

Job news: The Redbirds are looking for a ticket seller for their box office.

The chorizo patty melt is back on the specials list at Bardog today. GET IT. I had one Monday and it is seriously good. It comes with pepper jack cheese, grilled onions, and mustard.

Keep up with the latest weather news here.

That’s it for now. Hitting the Silly Goose about 4:50 if anyone wants to meet up for dranks. May push it a bit late-night tonight since I suspect tomorrow will either be a snow day or a day when I go in late.

I’m hearing multiple reports that Downtown Memphis smells like vomit right now, particularly around the City Hall area.

Good news for those who have to drive on Memphis streets: The city is buying 10 snow plow blades to use on the streets starting next winter. Total cost will be about $100,000. The blades won’t be here in time for tomorrow’s predicted winter storm.

Some more good news, too: The MemphisWeather.net forecast extended outlook for March 10-16 shows temperatures above average, and precipitation well below average. In other words, not like the past three weeks! Normal temperatures for that time span are 62-64 highs and 42-44 lows. Maybe we’ll get some 70 degree temps.

Author Craig David Meek discussed Memphis’ most underrated BBQ spots with the First We Feast site.

This sounds yummy: Bake tater tots in peppers for a quick, delicious snack

The Grizzlies play Utah at FedExForum tonight, 7 PM.

You can volunteer with the Coast Guard for a Spring Emergency Response exercise Monday, April 22 4-7 PM.

The Church Health Center has a dental assistant position open.

The redevelopers of the Tennessee Brewery have been granted a variance to build 150 apartment units. The normal limit in the South Main area is 55.

Looking at the hourly forecast on WeatherBug to figure out my attire for this evening. Here is the Paul Ryburn Fashion Guide in case you didn’t know:

Temperature above 38 – Flip-flops
Wind chill above 48 – PBR hoodie and shorts
Wind chill above 60 – T-shirt and shorts
Shirt with collar – Only when absolutely necessary
Tie – Only for job interviews, Halloween, and Blind Bear speakeasy parties
Outfit a female tells me I am wearing – laugh and put on different outfit

The wind chills this evening, believe it or not, fall in the T-shirt and shorts category. Not sure if I believe it, so I may bring along one of my Pink Pig fleeces just in case. Out at the usual spots after work. I probably will play poker tonight at 8 at the Blind Bear.

When was the last time I had three in one day? It doesn’t happen very often. This time I had to do it, though, because there’s a piece of time-sensitive material.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 3 is National Pancake Day and IHOP will be giving away free pancakes from 7 to 10 AM. Free pancakes? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up. I had sushi I couldn’t finish Sunday evening at Bluefin and could have used her help.

Memphis Barbeque Supply is offering a class on burgers Saturday, March 21. It will be led by Seth Agranov, writer of the Best Memphis Burger blog and one of the founders of Best Memphis Burger Fest. Seth, along with Jimmy from the store, will teach you everything you need to know to grill the perfect burger, including meat selection, prep, seasonings, stuffed burgers, grilling on charcoal or gas, using a GrillGrate, and much more. There are only 25 spots open, so email store@mbbqsupply.com to grab yours.

Shen Yun, a Chinese dance performance with elaborate costumes, a live orchestra, and animated backdrops comes to the Cannon Center Friday, March 13. Tickets are $50-120.

In many inner-city neighborhoods, corner convenience stores are the only source of food within walking distance. In them you’ll see rack after rack of beer, soft drinks, chips, and processed foods, but rarely any fruits and vegetables. CityLabs explains why and explains what is being done in one city to get healthier snacks in the stores.

That’s it for now. Time for some PBR at Melissa’s bar at Bardog.

Second post today. I got up early this morning and made a post with several photos. Scroll down when you’re done with this one if you haven’t read it yet.

Running group The Salty Dogs is having a run to Mud Island tonight at 7 PM. The runners depart every Monday from Bardog Tavern, and after the run is concluded there are specials for runners in the Underdog Room. It’s free to join them and they are some really nice people, so it’s a chance to make some new friends. Look for me there – I will be the guy sitting at the bar sipping a PBR watching the runners depart.

The always excellent Copeland Coaching site has a Memphis Grizzlies job posted, for the position of Controller.

The Grizzlies have a new social hub, an app for both iOS and Android which lets you keep up with the team.

Did you realize that Sunday is the start of Daylight Saving Time? The sun will set at 7:02 PM on Sunday.

In the South Main Association meeting on Tuesday, March 10, you will be able to hear update plans for the trolleys. The meeting will be in the Riverfront Bar & Grill at Beale Street Landing, 6 PM social, 6:30 meeting. Free parking in the Landing’s lot, appetizers courtesy of the bar & grill and the SMA, cash bar. Free for SMA members, $10 non-members.

@highgroundnews tweeted that for the next 10 days, you can donate 12 meals a day to Mid-South Food Bank for FREE by texting “Hunger” to 35350 thanks to General Mills.

@JohnMartin929 reports that the MRI is in for Tigers forward Austin Nichols. He has a high ankle sprain and deep bone bruise, an injury he suffered in the second half of Saturday’s game. He’s likely done for 2014-15.

Good article for beer lovers: 10 important advances made because of beer

ioby has $50K matching funds available for neighborhood projects in Memphis. You have until Friday to apply. Details here.

That’s it for now. After work I’ll lead off at Melissa Monday at Bardog, then decide which of Pint Nite at the Saucer or British Bingo at Blind Bear strikes my fancy. Time to eat some junk from the vending machine then get back to today’s work task of sorting out WordPress permalinks. Back tomorrow or maybe even tonight with more news.

Several groups of my friends checked out the new Rizzo’s Diner location this weekend, and while I didn’t get to go, I got permission to post a couple of pics they took.

This is the entree veggie plate. Every day Chef Michael Patrick makes a veggie plate, with the items on the plate changing from day to day. I usually prefer dinner that mooed or oinked before it became dead, but even I have to admit that veggie plate looks really good, and it looks like a lot of food.

The lobster pronto pup appetizer, shared by a group at a Sunday birthday brunch.

Today is Double J’s third anniversary of being open, and tonight starting at 6 they will celebrate with live music by Heath and Danny on the Front Porch stage. There will be $3 drafts, $3 Fireball, and $3 well drinks.

Tip for people who like the pepper jack mac & cheese at the Blind Bear: Put hot sauce in it. I never would have thought about doing this, but the day of the Liberty Bowl parade I saw a tourist decked out in West Virginia University gear doing it, and it seems like a really good idea.

I wonder whatever happened to that tourist. She was cute…

By the way, I was at the Bear yesterday, and a couple of members of the Weekend at Porky’s BBQ team were telling someone, “Just walk around the park until you find the best booth.” Hey, thank you for sending people to the Moody Ques, we appreciate it!

Discovery I made at City Market this weekend: Frozen Indian dinners.

Indian food is my second-favorite ethnic cuisine (after Mexican) so I am happy to make this discovery.

A site called Hypebot lists 5 underground music scenes that could explode in 2015. Number 4 on the list is Memphis’ rock scene.

Bardog has announced its 7th annual Erin-Go-Bragh(less) party for St. Pat’s:

Bra-less chics? I hope we experience a warm spell in mid-March, getting temperatures up into the 80s so it will be tube top weather. Nothing is better worn commando than a tube top!

All right, time to hit Publish and go to work. Possibly back at lunchtime if I find more stuff to write about.