Friday update

I found the most useful app yesterday. Wednesday I made a trip to Kroger to load up on some frozen dinners. Yesterday I pulled one out of the freezer and looked at the heating directions – and discovered that sometime in the past few years, my eyes lost the ability to read words in a white 3-point font printed on a gray box. After several minutes of holding the box this way and that, I decided that the instructions probably said to heat the dinner between 4:30 and 5:00 on High. Based on the done-ness of my dinner, I seemed to have guessed correctly.

Later in the day, I was thinking, I’ll have the same trouble with the other dinners. Then I thought, wait a minute, I wonder if there’s a phone app for that? Sure enough, I found one called Magnifying Glass with Light (iPhone) (Android). It works beautifully. It blows text up to several time its original size on your phone screen, and even better, if you have trouble reading in dim light, it turns on your phone’s flash for you. I have already found several uses for this app and recommend it highly for those who need a little help seeing instructions on boxes and bottles. The app is also going to make it easier for me to read the Memphis Flyer in dimly lit bars. I could’ve used that app when filling out paperwork to provisionally vote too (although I wonder if they would’ve let me have my phone out).

The final Memphis Farmers Market of the regular season happens tomorrow from 8 AM to 1 PM under the pavilion at Front and G.E. Patterson. There will be live local music all day. A special holiday edition of the Market will return to the pavilion 9 AM-1 PM December 8.

My friends Dennis and Mary Pat, who this month vowed to make the trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp to raise money for the kids of St. Jude, sent me a photo this morning. They made it!

The Downtown Vision Awards, originally scheduled for early this month, will be held tonight at 409 S. Main. There will be a welcome reception at 4 PM with a DJ, food, and drinks. At 5:15 the awards ceremony will begin with addresses by Mayor Harris and Mayor Strickland, along with special presenters Ekundayo Bandele, Rosalyn Willis, Joann Massey, Ray Brown, Teresa Sloyan, and Trey Moore.

The Uptown Chili Cookoff happens at Treedom Memphis, Second at A.W. Willis, from 3-5 Sunday. Come bring your pot of chili and have it judged by Memphis celebrities. The event will also celebrate the grand opening of Uptown barber shop Upscale Kutz.

Ghost River has announced the book to be discussed at the November meeting of its Get Lit Book Club. On November 15 from 7:00-8:30, in conjunction with Novel Memphis, the discussion topic will be Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Nice to see a brewery running a successful book club!

In other Ghost River news, Cupcakes and Craft Beer returns to the Ghost River taproom on Thursday, November 15. The event will start off with three savory cupcakes by Two Girls and a Whip. “Think turkey and dressing with cranberry drizzle, sweet potato cakes, ham, pumpkin pie, green bean casserole and all the Thanksgiving trappings – in cupcake form!” Those three and a sweet cupcake will be expertly paired with beers by Ghost River brewmasters. $32 and reservations must be made in advance. Call 901-472-CAKE to reserve your spot.

Come see the Triple-A National Championship Trophy, won by the Memphis Redbirds last month, on the Sell901 Trophy Tour:

Downtown stops will include

  • Tomorrow, Race for the Cure at AutoZone Park
  • November 1, food truck rodeo at Court Square
  • November 16, FedExForum, Grizzlies vs. Kings (before game and end of third quarter)
  • November 29-30, St. Jude Marathon Expo, Cook Convention Center

The Grizzlies have announced that Grammy award-nominated artist Jonathan McReynolds will perform a concert on Gospel Night February 22, following the Grizz’ game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Wiseacre will hold a Women, Witches, and Beer Tour tomorrow at 6 PM. Learn about the history of brewing and how the first images of witches are involved. Tour will include beer samples paired with Halloween candy. There will also be Women in Beer trivia with some special prizes. Tour cost is $15 and space is limited, so sign up in advance.

Memphis in May posted this image of the first BBQ Fest, held in a parking lot 40 years ago.

For those of you awaiting the Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson $9 million winner-takes-all heads-up game, it will happen Friday, November 23 (day after Thanksgiving) at 2 PM at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas. No tickets will be sold and it is expected to be on pay-per-view for $19.99. I’m not normally a golf fan, but if someone wants to invite me over that afternoon, I’d enjoy watching the match.

The CA printed an editorial yesterday saying Washington needs another Tennessee moderate, someone along the lines of Howard Baker, Jim Sasser, and Lamar Alexander in the Senate. I would agree. That kind of leader, rather than a hard-core liberal or conservative, would be able to get the most done for the people of Tennessee.

USA Today has a list of the most popular Halloween candy in every state. Wow, some states have really good taste in candy, others really bad. Just for kicks yesterday, I made a list. If I came trick-or-treating at your door, these are the candies I’d be most happy to see go into my bag:

Milky Way
Atomic Fire Balls
York peppermint patties/Junior Mints/anything chocolate mint
Kit Kat
Twix
Anything white chocolate
Dove milk chocolate
Hershey’s milk chocolate minis/Kisses
Air Heads
Bottle Caps
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups/Pieces
M$Ms Peanut Butter
Mounds
Snickers
Suckers, particularly cherry, lime, lemon or orange (no apple or watermelon)
Fun Dip
3 Musketeers
Life Savers
Skittles
M&Ms Plain
Peppermints (soft, cylinder shaped preferred over hard, circular shaped)

And these are the offerings I would NOT want to see:

Toothpaste, dental floss, anything “sensible” (people who hand these out deserve to have their houses egged)
Candy corn
Organic, fruit-based candy bought at a health-food store (this is why you skip vegans’ houses when you trick or treat)
Jolly Ranchers
Dark chocolate anything
Candy bars like Baby Ruth that are heavy in nuts
Apple anything (Apple FLAVORED anything. If you hand me an iPad I’ll take it)

Of course, these are just personal preferences. To each their own.

Now that you know my candy preferences, I’ll wrap it up for today. Going to inflate my bike tires and take a ride for the first time in several years. Back tomorrow with more news.