Author: paulryburn

Tickets for the American Athletic Conference men’s basketball tournament are now on sale. The tournament will be held at FedExForum March 12-15 and you can get tickets here. One of the good things about Memphis’ move to the AAC is that the championship game will be at 5 PM on Saturday the 15th. No more awful 10:30 AM start time for the final game as we had in Conference USA.

Speaking of the AAC, congratulations to Memphis Tigers forward Shaq Goodwin on being named the AAC’s Player of the Week. It’s the second time this season Shaq has won the award.

A new Dishcrawl is being planned for Downtown on Wednesday, February 19. It will be a Savory Chocolate Crawl. Diners will walk from restaurant to restaurant to enjoy treats that are dipped, filled, or covered with chocolate. I imagine there’s hardly a wife or girlfriend out there who wouldn’t appreciate a ticket to this crawl as a Valentine’s Day gift.

Local brewer Wiseacre received its distilling license today. That means that the brewery will be able to produce beers greater than 6.2% in alcohol by volume. By Tennessee law those beers are considered liquor, so a different license is needed.

Chris Vernon announced this morning that Marc Gasol has been medically cleared to return to practice. It looks like the Grizzlies are only a couple of weeks away from having their best player back on the floor.

That’s the news for now. I’m home from work and on my way out. My first stop will be Flying Saucer for a few Pint Nite beers. Then I will walk over to the Blind Bear for dinner. I have four gift cards that I won at poker and I plan on using them this week to try out the new menu items. I’ll post photos of my food to social media, and start gathering up photos for a Paul’s PBR Review of the Bear in about a week.

This weekend the team leaders of the Moody Ques BBQ team got together to discuss plans for 2014. If you’re a team member, you should have received an email this morning at whatever email address you registered with the team. Here’s a summary:

We need those who were paid team members in 2013 to get in touch with Moody or Clay and let us know if you’re in for 2014 as soon as possible. (If you don’t know how to get in touch with them, email me and I’ll forward.) We don’t need dues paid quite yet but we need to know who is committed to being back on the team. On February 1 the team leaders will look at the responses and determine if we need to add more members.

WordPress, which has been our main sponsor since the founding of the Moody Ques two years ago, has experienced incredible growth. As a result, a BBQ festival is no longer a venue where the company can hold an annual meeting. Therefore, we are parting ways with WordPress on the best of terms, and we thank them for all they did to help our team start up. We are working out other sponsorships to make up for the financial contribution WordPress gave us in past years.

A lot of things worked well last year, and we’re going to keep doing them. We had a large, open, two-story structure last year that won Best Booth. Brent from Holliday Flowers is back this year to help with the design. We expect to have a similar booth layout as last year. The honored country is Panama and we plan to come up with a design that will win first place for the second year in a row. No, we are not building a damn canal down the middle of the booth, in case you were wondering.

The Blind Bear is back to run the bar again this year. They did an excellent job in 2013 and we are pleased to renew that partnership.

Also back is Chef David Scott Walker as pitmaster. He did a fine job making sure everyone was well fed in 2013, and it’s going to be better this year. He’s bringing in several sous chefs from New York to assist with the cooking. We plan to have set menus for each day, published on the team website and social media, to help you better plan your BBQ Fest experience.

We are raising our dues slightly this year, to $300 for individuals and $450 for couples (couples must be established real-life couples and can’t be just two random people joining together to save money). Even with the increase, our team dues are still inexpensive compared to what many BBQ teams charge.

There’s a new opportunity for team members this year. Members who participate in load-in or load-out will be invited to a special post-BBQ Fest organizational meeting to share ideas and discuss the team. Food and alcohol will be provided at this meeting. In addition, team members participating in load-in and/or load-out will be guaranteed a spot on the team for 2015. Load-in usually happens the Saturday before BBQ Fest (weather permitting) and load-out is Sunday, the day after BBQ Fest ends.

There was also some budgetary stuff in the email, which I will leave out here since this is a public forum. Check your email if you’re interested.

Once again, 2013 team members please let Moody or Clay know ASAP if you’re in or out. I am excited and truly believe we built the groundwork last year for a BBQ team that will be successful for a long, long time.

There has been a change in the kitchen at the Blind Bear recently. Chef David Scott Walker has left the speakeasy. It was an amicable split. The chef plans to open a restaurant with his family in Summer 2014, and needs to focus his efforts on that. This change will not affect the Moody Ques BBQ team, and Chef DSW will remain as our pitmaster.

The new Blind Bear chef, Fortunato Oliva, introduced himself to me as “Nate” last Sunday. From my banter with my friends and the bartender, he figured out I was one of the regulars and came over to talk. “There’s going to be a new menu, but your old favorites will still be on there. They’ll be my takes on the old favorites. For instance, we’re keeping the potato skins but they’re going to be my homemade potato skins. Let me know if there’s anything you want to see on the menu, or if there’s every anything special I can make for you. I believe in taking real good care of regulars.”

Jeannette posted the new menus to Facebook yesterday. Here’s the dinner menu (I hope these links work; if they don’t let me know and I’ll try something else). Old favorites like the Bear BLT and the burger remain on the menu. New choices include cola-braised Angus short rib, jumbo lump crab cake, chicken Palliard, and Fortunato’s truffled gnocchi. For dessert there is chocolate soufleé and vanilla creme brulée.

The Hibernation menu (late-night 11 PM to 2 AM) retains a number of favorites as well: The BLT, the burger, the sliders, the wings, the sausage/cheese plate, the potato skins, and the Bear Balls. New choices include a house flatbread and bacon-wrapped shrimp. Some of the old favorites have new twists as well. For example, for the wings, the chef has added an onion teriyaki with sesame oil option in addition to the dry rub and Buffalo-style wings that were on the old menu. There’s now a black & bleu option for the sliders.

I have four Blind Bear gift cards in my wallet that were won at poker over the past year, so I’m going to use those to tear my way through the new menu this week. Expect some food posts. The new brunch menu will be out soon.

In other news, Bardog Tavern was closed Monday-Wednesday of last week for renovations. I was in there yesterday with my “DAWG” John D, and one of the new renovations was sitting right in front of me. They’ve added an 11th and 12th tap handle. The new beers will be Sierra Nevada Harvest and an as-of-yet unspecified Abita beer. I was about to comment, “Hopefully not Turbo Dog,” but then again, it doesn’t matter to me what they put on that tap, because the only beer on tap that matters to me is the PBR.

(Hmmm…. back to Blind Bear’s new menu for a minute… perhaps I’ll cover the new items in “Paul’s PBR Review” format. We haven’t had one of those in a long time.)

The Brass Door is having its first-ever School Disco in the Cavern next Saturday, January 18, from 10 PM until 2 AM. If you’re in school uniform, there will be $3 drafts, house wine, and well liquor for you. Prizes will be awarded for the sexiest outfits.

The Grizzlies host the Atlanta Hawks tonight at 5 at the FedExForum.

We had a very positive BBQ team leadership meeting yesterday at the Blind Bear. I took detailed notes and am putting together a post updating all the team members on recent developments. I just need to run the content by one of the team board members today to make sure I’m touching base on everything that we need to discuss. There are going to be some exciting new opportunities for team members this year. Look for a post early in the week. I think they’re going to send out an email to 2013 team members too.

That’s it for now. I’ll start off Sunday Fun Day at noon at the Blind Bear.

Apologies for no post on my lunch break yesterday. The reason for that was, I had no lunch break. I had a consultant at my desk and we were troubleshooting server issues. “Okay, I’ll push my lunch break back from 1 to 1:30,” I thought. Then it became 2. At 2 we were nowhere done. About 2:20 I had lunch, consisting of two bags of buffalo wing flavored cheese curls from the vending machine. They were not bad.

According to a post on Nextdoor, two new businesses are coming to Harbor Town Square. The Cedar Room will carry men’s clothing and accessories by established brands, and also cigars. Pageboy Salon will offer men’s and women’s washes, cuts, colors, and blowouts.

The Tigers play Temple this afternoon in a 2:00 road game. You can watch it on ESPN2.

Meanwhile, back at the FedExForum, the Harlem Globetrotters put on a show tonight at 7. Get tickets here.

In other basketball news, the Rendezvous will host the official Grizzlies watch party Wednesday night, January 15 at 6:30. The Grizzlies vs. the Milwaukee Bucks will be shown on the upper level on the big screen. There will be a free sausage & cheese buffet plus other surprise samples, $2.50 Bud Light bottles, and valet parking will be only $5 if you have on Grizzlies attire. Free sausage & cheese buffet? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up. No, wait, she’ll be out of town watching her sister be a contestant on Jeopardy. So, plenty of sausage and cheese for all.

Flight is having a Piggy Bank Dinner to raise funds for the Southern Foodways Alliance on Thursday, January 23. The first three courses will include Hawaiian bigeye tuna carpaccio, Benton’s bacon and poached apple salad, and scallop and lobster Benedict. Entree choices will be Muscovy duck, slow smoked Newman Farms pork shoulder, and braised Wagyu short rib. A pineapple upside down cake will be the dessert. Tickets are $75. Call 901-521-8005 to purchase tickets. To find out more info about the Southern Foodways Alliance, visit their website.

The Cardinals Caravan makes its yearly trip to AutoZone Park next Sunday, January 19. Gates at 5:30, program at 6:30. This year’s attendees include former Redbirds Keith Butler, Seth Maness, and Kerry Robinson. Former National League All-Star Andy Benes and the newly-acquired Randal Grichuk will also join the Caravan along with broadcasters and former Cardinals Al Hrabosky and Rick Horton. Autographs for kids 15 and under following the event. They’re implementing an autograph ticket system and limiting it to 400 kids, so get there early. The Redbirds’ store will be open 5:30-7:30. The event is free and complimentary food and drinks will be served. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up. She should be back in town by the 19th.

One of my Twitter followers tweeted me this link: Things We Wish Women Would Wear More Often: Leather Tube Tops. Now, I’m not saying I agree or disagree with this article. I’m just putting it out there as information my readers may find useful.

Bad news for folks who live in the Exchange Building at Second and Madison: A pipe break has caused the building to shut down the elevator system. As someone who lives in a 16-story building myself, I feel the pain of the people who have to take the steps to the building’s upper floors. I hope it gets fixed soon. Glad my buddy Duck Finkley is working a shift on the boat on the Mississippi so he doesn’t have to deal with it.

Here’s a unique idea for a coffee shop: The coffee is free, but you pay a few cents a minute to sit there.

If you’re wondering why there are dudes in dress shirts and blazers walking around Downtown this weekend, it’s the annual Pi Kappa Alpha national convention.

The Church Health Center is having an open house from 9 to 1 today. There will be exercise classes available (boot camp and yoga). They will have information on membership options and benefits, a model for healthy living, the medical clinic, diabetes education, insurance reimbursement plan options, faith community outreach, and behavior health resources. They will offer free blood glucose screening and free bone fracture risk assessment. The center is at 1115 Union in the medical center district.

I’m starting off at Brooke’s bar at Bardog today as usual. Later in the day the team leaders of the BBQ team are getting together to talk. I’m not a team board member, but I have a trusted senior advisor-type role on the team so I get to go to some of these meetings. It may seem like we’re off to a late start, but we figured out so much last year that we have a huge head start. We figured out the ideal booth design (with a generous assist from Holliday Flowers), we got the right guy cooking the meat (Chef David Scott Walker), and the right people running the bar (Blind Bear). With that groundwork in place, our time and resources are freed up to focus on the remaining pieces of the puzzle. If anything blog-worthy comes out of the meeting I will let you know. I’ll also find out whether we’re seeking new members, because I’ve had a couple of people inquire already.

All right, outta here for now. Looks like it may be warm enough to wear my PBR hoodie and shorts to the meeting, which will make me quite happy after all the cold weather we’ve had lately.

Big game on ESPN tonight. The Memphis Tigers play at Louisville tonight at 6 PM. A win would look really good to the NCAA tournament committee. A loss would mean goodbye to the Top 25 for a while.

Recycling has returned to South Main. There are bins located next to the Farmers Market at Front and G.E. Patterson. You can drop off glass, paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, plastic containers, and cans. The bins are “single stream” so you don’t need to sort out by type of item. If you want to make a donation to support continued recycling in South Main, you can do it here.

Exciting news for WWE fans: WWE announced the launch of the WWE Network last night. The official date is February 24. For $10 a month, subscribers get all the pay-per-views on pretty much any device (smartphones, tablets, gaming devices, etc.) That’s a heck of a lot better than the $45-65 charge per individual PPV in the past. Subscribers also get a lot of other content, including archives of RAW and Smackdown, WWE NXT (the best wrestling show on TV), reality shows, and on-demand footage from 30 years of WWE, WCW, and ECW tape libraries. Here’s a FAQ explaining how the network will operate.

You bet I will be joining this the first day I can. Most WWE pay-per-views are Sunday nights when I play poker at the Blind Bear. We already have one player who brings her Kindle Fire and watches Netflix as she plays. Soon, one Sunday a month, I will be watching sports entertainment on my iPhone as I play.

Before I get off the subject of WWE, I’ll make a bold prediction: Current developmental talent Alexander Rusev will break The Undertaker’s streak at WrestleMania 31 in 2015. You heard it here first.

The Daily News blog has more info on the new Mexican restaurant to open Downtown this spring. It will be located next to Parking Can Be Fun, which would seem to be the old Papa Pia’s/Cafe Samovar space. Yay, walking distance! It will be called Agave Maria and is described as “an old school cantina meets Mexico City bistro.”

The MBJ posted a video of the inside of Cafe Keough. Glad they did that because still photos don’t do it justice. Beautiful space they have there.

LifeBlood is currently experiencing a critical shortage of O-negative blood. Donors are asked to come to one of the six donation centers.

Mixed media artist/photographer Natalie M. Henderson will have a show at the Blind Bear tonight at 8 PM. More info here.

I’ll probably stop by the art show, preceded by stops at the Silly Goose and Flying Saucer. Right now, it’s time for a quick lunch and then an afternoon of models, views, and controllers. If you don’t know what that means, trust me, you’re better off. Unfortunately they’re not the kind of models that look good in tube tops. Back tomorrow with more news.

Yesterday afternoon the City Council voted to buy AutoZone Park. This will allow the St.Louis Cardinals to proceed with their purchase of the Memphis Redbirds AAA team. As a result, the Redbirds will be playing at Third and Union for many years to come, and the Cardinals are committed to do a lot to upgrade the park. The city’s purchase of the park does not appear to be financially risky. EXCELLENT move by the City Council. The vote was 8-4, with Shea Flinn abstaining due to a conflict of interest.

Tomorrow night, Central BBQ will have all-you-can-eat nachos and sliders for $10 during the Tigers vs. Louisville game (start time 6 PM). They will also have cheap beer from Memphis Made Brewing Co. in these glasses.

Holly from the I Love Memphis Blog has the scoop on two new restaurants coming to Downtown. One is Oshi, a gourmet burger restaurant which will open across from Local, and the other is a yet-unnamed Mexican restaurant.

Starting next Tuesday, the Flying Saucer will add a bonus round to its trivia night. Winner of the bonus round gets a Wisacre Special Release growler and a chance to win a tour of Wiseacre’s brewery, led by the Memphis and Cordova Saucer girls. Trivia is at 7:30 and 10 PM Tuesdays.

If you’re a Disney fan, there’s Disney trivia tonight at 7 at Tamp and Tap.

Important news from Denver: Dixie Longate, described as Denver’s Tupperware Lady, will return to Denver for performances in March and April. One piece of her performance will be “Never Wear a Tube Top while Riding a Mechanical Bull (and 16 Other Things I Learned while Drinking Last Thursday).” THAT. SOUNDS. AWESOME.

That’ll do it for now. Back tomorrow if not sooner with more news.

One of the best ways to find out what’s going on in Downtown Memphis is to attend Paul Morris’ annual State of Downtown speech. Paul Morris, who runs DMC, will give the annual equivalent of the president’s State of the Union speech at the January South Main Association meeting. It will be next Tuesday, January 14, at Grawemeyer’s at 520 S. Main. 6:00 social, 6:30 meeting. Free for SMA members, $10 for non-members. There will be appetizers compliments of the restaurant and a cash bar.

From Lifehacker: Find unadvertised job openings with a clever Google search. When you’re hunting for employment, you need to give yourself every advantage you can.

Here’s a calendar of BBQ competitions around the world. It includes festivals in Puerto Rico and Belgium. Of course, Memphis in May BBQ Fest is on the calendar.

From the Huffington Post: An open letter to bad tippers. If you’re the type of person who rounds a $65 bill up to $70, you need to read this.

Shout-out to everyone attending the rally to save AutoZone Park going on right now. Wish I could be there with you… wait, it’s 21 outside, maybe I don’t. They were serving free Cokes, hot chocolate, cookies, and hot dogs. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl showed up.

If nothing comes up, I’ll check out Cafe Keough tonight after work, after my plans to visit a week ago went off track. I’ll probably play poker at Blind Bear tonight (after all I am the defending champion), but will probably arrive a bit late after the official 8 PM starting time. Happy Tuesday everyone and go Grizzlies in tonight’s home game.

There will be a Rally for AutoZone Park tomorrow at noon. Participants will meet at the park and march down Main Street Mall to show public support for the city purchasing the ballpark and keeping the Redbirds in Memphis. You’re invited to wear red and join the rally. There will be hot dogs, sodas, hot chocolate and more at the Park. Redbirds baseball caps, and other fan gear will be distributed to as many people as possible along with red sock caps to keep your head warm.

Can’t be there? Here are other ways to show your support:

*Share the message via social media using the hashtag
#rallyforthepark

*Sign the petition: http://chn.ge/1lq76Zj

*Print the poster and bring it with you to the rally, or hang
it in your window.

*Email your city council members:
http://atmilb.com/19KU9qB

Central BBQ’s Downtown location and Memphis Made Brewing will host a special pint night Thursday. There will be $3 pints of Reverberation and Fireside Ninja for sale. There will also be free snacks and apps at the bar. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Volunteer Odyssey is hosting its first fundraiser of the year on Sunday, February 9 from 2-5 PM at Jack Robinson Gallery. It will be called Mix-Odyssey and will feature the talents of several local mixologists, both hobbyists and pros. Highlights:
– Sample high-end cocktails from seven mixologists
– Music by award-winning Grizzlies DJ Justin Baker
– Hosted by Action News 5’s Lauren Squires
– Light appetizers provided
– Vote for crowd favorite
– Panel of “celebrity” guest judges

You can buy tickets here. Volunteer Odyssey, in case you haven’t heard of it, provides a way for Memphians to volunteer for a variety of nonprofit organizations and then blog about their experience.

In case you haven’t heard the news, the Grizzlies have reached an agreement to send Jerryd Bayless to the Boston Celtics. We’ll get Courtney Lee in return.

I mentioned the Salty Dogs run happening tonight. They’re meeting in the alley next to Bardog (Scratchy’s Alley) at 7 rather than in the bar itself, because Bardog is closed through Wednesday for renovations.

BCS National Championship is tonight at 7:30 on ESPN. I’ll be out at one of my favorite bars to watch the game. Right now, I am getting back to work. Having a very productive Monday. Everyone stay warm tonight!

Well great. I’ve been notified that my debit card info is among the 40 million that got stolen in the Target hack last month. They’re issuing me a new card. So far there are not any fraudulent purchases. I’ve enabled text-me-on-purchase so I will know about fraudulent activity immediately.

The good news is, if they do try to use my debit card number to ring up charges, they’re not going to get all the money in my bank account. About a year ago, when a lot of my friends were getting their card info skimmed at local bars, I took steps to protect myself. I stopped using my bank debit card and got a PayPal debit card. I can transfer funds from the bank to PayPal, and then from PayPal to the card, so I control how much money is available. I keep enough on the card to cover me in case of an emergency, as well for cases where I have to pay with a card, like online purchases or reserving a hotel room. If hackers/skimmers get me, though, they only have access to what’s on the card, and not what’s in my bank account. I’m probably paying a few extra dollars in fees, but for the peace of mind it’s worth it.

One of my Facebook friends posted a great article called How to Name a Baby that was really good and I thought I’d share it here. It discusses name fads and graphs some of them. For example:

• “Jennifer” peaked in popularity from 1965 to 1985 but hardly anyone gets named Jennifer now. Sounds right; I went to school with lots of Jennifers.
• “Ashley” peaked in the 1980s and is on its way out as a name now. I went to school with plenty of Ashleys too, but they were almost always younger than me.
• “Shirley” peaked in the 1930s. The card game I work with for my job appeals to an older generation (although we’re working to change that) and I get lots of calls and emails from Shirleys.
• “Emma” was a fad in our great-grandmothers’ time, and is again now. I didn’t go to school with any Emmas because it was considered an antiquated name at the time.
• Presidents cause name fads to happen. “Theodore” was especially popular in the first decade of the 20th century. “Calvin” has remained somewhat steadily popular, but peaked in 1923 to 1929 when Coolidge was president.
• Adolph was a popular name for years, but declined in the 1940s. You can figure that one out, I hope.
• If you want to avoid name fads and pick a timeless boy name, you can’t go wrong with “William.”

Next time you go to Central BBQ in the South Main district, be sure to save room for some peanut butter pie. There’s a pic on the Hungry Memphis blog.

Now this is cool: Montreal just got some new street lights that look like cartoon speech bubbles. Nice way to subtly communicate “we have fun here” to visitors.

Act now to save AutoZone Park. The link shares ways you can let the City Council know that you want the city to purchase the park and keep the Redbirds here.

If you’re looking to buy a Downtown condo, Memphis real estate broker Joe Spake has been tweeting/pinning some good leads today. Follow him on Twitter at @joespake.

The Grizzlies play an away game vs. the Detroit Pistons at noon. You can watch it locally on SportSouth. Thanks to @MemphisOnTV on Twitter for the info.

The usual idiot who shows up wherever I am showed up at Bardog yesterday about noon. He always tries to sit right in my line of sight, so I have no choice but to look at him. Geez. Later in the day he followed me to Silly Goose. I guess I should just publish my schedule to Google Calendar to make life easier for him. I hear that people have been unfriending him and blocking him on Facebook lately. Since Christmas week I’ve had three people tell me, “You know, Paul, I have to admit you’ve been right about him all along.” Just think if he’d taken all the time, energy, and money he spent in 2013 on passive-aggressive attempts to get even with me for not liking him, and instead diverted that to something positive, such as developing new career skills. I’ve seen several skills-certification courses on Groupon lately…

This morning I’m putting together a bag of clothes that I don’t wear anymore to donate to the homeless. I’ll take the clothes to the Blind Bear, where there will be a donation box through Wednesday. There are also boxes at Bardog, Aldo’s Pizza Pies, Slider Inn, Local, and Newby’s. I found some nice polos that would help the homeless look good for potential jobs. I also found a Flying Saucer “GOOD BEER” shirt. Maybe I should leave that one out of the bag, to avoid encouraging bad habits.

I want to take a moment to apologize for the number of days I’ve gone without posting lately. I usually try not to skip days. The past three weeks, though, I’ve been dealing with a car that broke down, a car repair that has now been delayed twice, a parking garage pass that stopped working, fighting off a cold, dealing with my debit card being hacked, and the blasted holidays on top of everything else. I’ve been stressed out and just not at the top of my game. Hopefully I will be back in top form this week. Thanks everyone for sticking with me.

Time to put on 4 layers of clothes and go out. It will be 50 when I leave the apartment. When I walk home around 10 tonight after winning Blind Bear poker, Weatherbug predicts it will be 20. By the way, 20 is warmer than it will be at any point on Monday. Nothing to do but get ready for the big chill.

MemphisWeather.net is having a Google Hangout tonight at 8 PM to discuss the brutally cold weather that will be here Sunday-Tuesday. If you’re on Google+, circle MemphisWeather.net if you want to join in. If you’ll be busy at 8, you can read the MemphisWeather.net blog for information on what to expect. According to their Twitter account (@memphisweather1), Monday will be the first day in 18 years that Memphis has experienced highs in the teens. They also reported that yesterday’s low of 19 marked the first time in 1056 days that Memphis has dipped below the 20-degree mark. Finally, here’s an animation of the Arctic air to move in Sunday-Monday.

If you think our weather will be cold on Monday, check out the forecast for Minneapolis: High -15, low -21. Meanwhile, the forecast for Anchorage, Alaska for Monday is high 30, low 27, so on average Anchorage will be running about 15 degrees warmer than Memphis on Monday.

I see that the cold weather is not going to stop running group The Salty Dogs. They are having a polar bear run on Monday. The run starts and ends at Bardog Tavern and start time is 7 PM. Post-run, the runners enjoy specials in Bardog’s underdog room. If you’re into running, this is a good way to meet some friendly fellow Downtowners.

The Blind Bear is having New Year’s Eve Part 2 all day tomorrow, for those who had to work, for those who want to do it all over again, and for those who want to experience New Year’s Eve that isn’t Amateur Night. $2.50 domestic bottles, $3 drink specials (mimosas, champagne, poinsettias, Bloody Marys, moonshine shots, Fireball), $4 well drinks, $5 house wine, free Texas Hold Em’ poker at 6:30pm, $15 bottles of Yellow Tail bubbly, $30 bottles of Sophia Blanc de Blancs. Brunch will be served from noon until 6 PM. If they remember they’ll do a countdown at midnight.

The Cotton Museum will be offering pay-what-you-can yoga classes in partnership with Evergreen Yoga Studio. Leah Bray Nichols, primary instructor at the studio, will lead the exercise. First class of 2014 is Tuesday at 7 AM. More info here.

Perihelion occurs at 5:59 PM today, at which time the Earth will be the closest to the Sun of any point along its yearly orbit. Sure doesn’t feel like we’re close to the Sun today!

Yesterday I worked from home for the first 2 hours of the day as I waited on a car repair. Right before 8 I walked to Walgreens for my daily caffeine. Scene I witnessed as I walked to Walgreens: A man asking people for change to help the homeless. Scene I witnessed as I came out of Walgreens: The same man banging on the door of CeCe’s Liquors, yelling, “Clyde! You open yet?” DO NOT GIVE THESE PEOPLE MONEY! If you want to help the homeless, there are many fine organizations to which you can donate, including the Union Mission, Hospitality HUB, Door of Hope, and Manna House. If you give money directly to people on the street, it will almost certainly go toward alcohol and drugs rather than food and shelter.

Off to Bardog to start the morning at Brooke’s bar and watch the Tigers play Cincinnati (ESPN2). Go Tigers!