Labor Day update

RIP Lou Brock. He was a base-stealing wizard who I thoroughly enjoyed watching when I was little.

My friend Katie (not Mac) posted something yesterday on Facebook that I feel is worth repeating on here. Raffe’s Deli & Beer Garden in the U of M area recently lost its lease and is looking for a new location. If you’ve never had one of Raffe’s deli sandwiches, let me use three words to describe them.

DEE.

LISH.

US.

So, I want to echo Katie (not Mac’s) sentiment that Raffe’s would be welcome Downtown. Like the U of M neighborhood, Downtown is one where there is a sense of community, where you see the same people week after week for years. Raffe’s would fit right in, and believe me, Downtown would certainly provide a built-in audience for a beer garden.

A friend of mine had to walk two miles to the train station this morning because the cab she had ordered never showed up and there were no Uber or Lyft drivers working. We will never be a world-class city until we get our transportation figured out better than this.

LOL I learned something about social media this weekend… doesn’t affect me personally but let’s just say that hot young girls have a better idea which creepy old men are stalking their profile than the creepy old men realize. Since one of my regular blog readers is a creepy old man, I won’t divulge the secret.

Quiz time: Let’s say that a full-service restaurant has signs all over the place saying that you must be seated at a table and order food to be served alcohol, as required by Health Directive No. 11. The bar area at the restaurant is covered in yellow CAUTION tape. What does this mean?

a) If you’re sitting on the patio and don’t feel like waiting for your server to come out there, it’s totally OK to walk up to the bar to order a drink

b) If you’re friends with the bartender, it’s OK to hang out at the bar and have a long conversation with them

c) SIT YO ASS DOWN

d) All of the above

c). The correct answer is c). It seems like most everyone does as they’re asked, but a small number of people, I’d guess 5-7%, don’t get it at all. It’s not that they’re bad people or don’t care about COVID-19 spread, it’s just that they’re such extroverts, so interested in connecting with other people, that they forget there are rules. You can tell these people to put their mask on, get away from the bar, and sit down a dozen times, and two minutes later they’re right back up.

Oh, man. Another RIP. Mike Sexton passed away at 72. He was the lead commentator on the World Poker Tour shows.

I get about 10 emails a week like the one below.

Hi Paul,

I would be interested in an opportunity to write a guest post for Paul Ryburn’s Journal. On page 3 of your archives from May 2014, I see that you mentioned bicycles. I have an article entitled “Best Bicycle Seats for 2020” that I believe would be of great interest to your readers. Would you be interested in such a post?

I will check back with you in a few days to make sure you received this communication.

Best wishes,

Scarlett

The best one of these emails I received was from someone who didn’t understand how to fill out a spammy marketing template, and the email I received was

Hi BLOGGER_NAME,

I would be interested in an opportunity to write a guest post for BLOG_TITLE. On REFERENCED_POST, I see that you mentioned TOPIC. I have an article entitled ARTICLE_TITLE that I believe would be of great interest to your readers. Would you be interested in such a post?

I will check back with you in a few days to make sure you received this communication.

Best wishes,

YOUR_NAME

Now, while I turn down every one of these generic requests, I have to say there is a guest post I would totally allow. I’ve been noticing something on Facebook. There are people who go for YEARS without posting a clear picture of their face as their profile pic. They might make their profile pic

  • a sports logo, like Tigers or 901 FC
  • their pet
  • a logo of the company they work for
  • a blurry photo
  • a photo where half their face is cut off
  • a logo of a community organization they hold dear

However, in 2020 these people, for the first time, post a photo of their face… and it’s behind a mask. I would love to have a psychiatrist or psychologist write an analysis of such behavior. Why have a social media presence if you’re going to hide who you are?

In a few such photos I’ve seen, the wearer of the mask gets double bonus points for hiding who they are and value signaling at the same time.

That’s it for today. I was going to stay home today and focus on my writing, but I am getting a strong intuition of “no, go out today, there’s something for you out there.” I have learned not to doubt my intuition, so out I go. We will see if there is indeed a payoff. Probably back tomorrow with more news, but the day after Labor Day tends to be a slow news day as well, so it could be Wednesday.