Saturday update

This week I mentioned that I’ve been working on a side hustle, and I would have more to say soon. Well, the time has come. I am now a published writer on Medium, a site “for readers, writers, and the insatiably curious.”

My first article for Medium: Overcome panic and feel at ease at networking events

Feel free to share the post with anyone you think would benefit from reading. It’s about a trick I learned a long time ago, in my very early years Downtown, to survive and thrive in an environment that can be quite intimidating for introverts.

I’ll come back and say more about my side hustle at the end of this post, but first, let’s get on to the news.

The Daily Memphian had a chat with Orpheum president and CEO Brett Batterson about bringing Broadway back as well as other events. Touring Broadway shows require 100% capacity so it may be a while before those are fully back, but Orpheum classic movies on the big screen are already back, and other types of shows are on the schedule this fall.

Speaking of which, Grandma’s Big Vote, a musical stage play by William Gandy Jr. has been booked for the Orpheum’s sibling venue the Halloran Centre for the Performing Arts Sunday, October 25. Gandy’s purpose in this stage play is to convince people both young and old to cast their votes. His inspiration for the play was his grandmother, who lived to cast her One Big Vote at age 106 in the election of 2008.

Don’t forget that the Blind Bear opens for breakfast at 7 AM seven days a week. Yes, they’re still doing Hung Over Like a Bear brunch from 10 AM to 3 PM on the weekends, but classic breakfasts are available as early as 7. If you go on Saturdays or Sundays my buddy Mark will take care of you. You may remember Mark from Mr. Handy’s Blues Hall and Double J. Tip him well and if you love cats, be sure to mention that.

Hadley’s Pub has joined the Blind Bear on the list of limited-service restaurants reclassifying to full-service.

In other Downtown full-service restaurant news, Bardog now has online ordering. They’re using the ChowNow platform, and if it’s your first experience using that platform you can get 15% off your first order over $25 through September 30. If you prefer to dine in, you can do that as well, with both the main room and the Underdog now open.

Memphis Travel has a list of places to shop for musical instruments in our city. I’m glad they published the list because I would have never thought to tell tourists about one of the venues they mention: Vibe & Dime, the gift shop of Ditty TV at 510 S. Main.

In case you’re wondering if there is any college football today, the answer is no. Only three games were scheduled, all involving minor FBS conference schools. Two have been canceled and one postponed. Today shouldn’t have been a big college football day, though, COVID-19 or not; the season typically gets into full swing the Saturday before Labor Day, which is in September rather than August this year.

Look at the bright side, though… we’re six days away from Arkansas State vs. Memphis on ESPN… hopefully. Collierville High going from playing football (with media ban) to two players testing positive to going all-virtual in less than a week is a scary foreboding of what football season will look like this fall, I’m afraid.

Found a really good article on ESPN while looking for the football schedule: What experts say NBA players should do with their power to help put an end to racism and violence

On the COVID-19 front, a million antigen tests are on their way to Tennessee. Although these tests are a little less accurate than the testing in use now, they are cheap ($5) and rapid-result. Dr. Scott Strone, executive director of the College of Medicine at UTHSC, compares the technology to that used in pregnancy tests.

The same article notes that the replication rate of the coronavirus has risen from 0.89 (as reported by health department director Dr. Haushalter on Tuesday) to 0.95. Keeping it at or below 1.0 is a requirement for bars to be able to open. Let’s all wear our masks this weekend! The article also reports that testing has been at 70% or less capacity the last two weeks, so if you want a test you should be able to get one.

Memphis 901 FC won’t play North Carolina FC today as a show of protest. They will remain in Memphis and will observe the following schedule as a team:

  • 10 AM – convene on the AutoZone Park plaza
  • 10:15 – march to Civil Rights Museum
  • 10:30 – photos and reflection at the “I Am a Man” mural, 398 S. Main
  • 10:45 – arrive at National Civil Rights Museum
  • 11:00 – team tour of National Civil Rights Museum

Supporters and the public are welcome to join the team on the tour with advance ticket purchase and staggered entry times. Masks are required. The next home match is Wednesday at 7 vs. Charlotte.

Another beloved Memphis restaurant falls to COVID-19 restrictions: Lucky Cat Ramen has closed.

I don’t usually put real estate listings on here but a unit has become available in the highly-sought Wm. Farrington building at 413 S. Main. It’s a 1 BR/1 BA down the street from Puck Food Hall. Price is $225,000 and cost after property taxes, insurance, HOA and all that other crap is estimated at $1331 a month.

More about that side hustle

Medium is an outstanding subscription content site which I’ve been a paid member of on and off during the past two years. Recently I read several articles about becoming a published content author on Medium, and I thought to myself, there’s no reason I could not do this. I’ve got the writing ability, I’m not afraid of a little shameless self-promotion, and I like helping people.

Longtime readers remember that I had a side hustle once before, those Amazon storefronts that I ran through software called Associate-O-Matic. They siphoned a few commission bucks off people’s purchases through Amazon. It was perfectly legal but it wasn’t something I was passionate about, and I had to deal with software upgrades to 100 storefronts now and then. Articles, on the other hand, require practically no maintenance once they’re written and published.

My goal is to write 100 Medium articles by August 26, 2021. I have three more in Drafts right now. I’ll give you a teaser for one: After being told I should drink a gallon of water a day for a long time, I finally figured out a mind hack to do that. In a normal, non-pandemic year I would get over 80 reminders of that goal without ever having to set an alarm.

Eventually, I would like to create an information product or online course, thereby scratching the “teaching” part of my itch. Another possibility is to publish an ebook, which I have read is quite easy to do on Amazon’s Kindle platform.

One more thing I will add about Medium: If you are a programmer, web developer, or data scientist, you should most certainly check it out. They have some incredible contributors on there, and you’ll often find links to free ebooks at the end of articles.

That’s it for this Saturday morning. Time to divide a few hours between writing and laundry, then get out to my favorite full-service restaurants. Bardog and Blind Bear are both on my agenda today. Back tomorrow with more news.