Author: paulryburn

For a list of birthday celebrations this weekend, check out this post on the I Love Memphis blog.

Home from work… I just did a search and found the free poker tournament director software that Poker Jon used last night at the Silly Goose.  You can set the number of players, buy-ins, and blind structure, and the tournament software will take care of the rest and automatically inform you when it’s time for the blinds to go up.  It can even handle fixed break times, rebuys, and add-ons.  If you host poker tournaments at home, this is a neat little tool to have, and it’s free.  Get it here.

I’m dead tired today.  I got to the “final table” poker tournament last night at the Silly Goose, and host Poker Jon informed us that “we’re going to do this WSOP style, with big stacks and long blind levels.  Get comfortable, you’re going to be here for a while.”  Uh oh, I thought, on a school night this doesn’t sound good.  Still, with a cruise as the grand prize I had no intention of dropping out.

Play started at 8 PM.  Tournaments at the Goose usually take a couple or three hours, but not this one.  All nine players were still there at about 10:30, and I looked at my average-sized stack and it was still more than 60 big blinds.  Not long after that, I eliminated “Satellite” who had won a tournament the week before to reach the final table.  By 1 AM it was down to two others and me.  I hadn’t eaten, I needed to get to bed and I surely wasn’t playing my best poker by that point.  I called an all-in and lost, finishing third.

So, no cruise for me.  I was trying to figure out who I’d take with me if I won… I was thinking maybe Brittney from the Saucer.  Not because I enjoy her company, but because it’d be a good chance to throw her overboard.

Poker Jon had a really cool program on his netbook that manages poker tournaments.  I’ll try to find it when I get home and post a link.  He said it’s freeware.

Ready for another themed pub crawl? There’s going to be a “Jersey Shore Pub Crawl 2K10” (search for it by that name on Facebook) on Saturday, January 30 with stops at Wet Willie’s, Silky’s, Club 152 and Republic. “Get your spray tan, your blow out, get “juiced” and join us for a crazy night of fist pumping and battling,” the event listing reads.

The Peabody deli is selling “King Cakes” this week in celebration of Elvis’ 75th birthday.  Chocolate cake with peanut butter and banana filling.  Here’s a pic.

MPACT Memphis is doing a Healthy Memphis Outlet on Tuesday, January 26 at Pearl’s Oyster House.  You can get plugged into a healthy lifestyle there.  YMCA, Church Health Center, and the Memphis Farmers’ Market will be on hand to give presentations, and you’ll be able to join MPACTive, an active lifestyle group for MPACT members.  I definitely plan on showing up for this.  Of course the Saucer is on the way to Pearl’s so it’s possible I may just go there and drink beer instead.

Couple of useful items on Lifehacker today… if you are job hunting, there’s a service called Better Talking that will help you practice job interview skills.  It will call you and ask canned interview questions, then send you a link to your interview transcript.  You can then show the transcript to friends and colleagues and get their advice.

If your company’s firewall blocks my blog, Lifehacker has a post about a service called Flexamail that lets you surf websites and social networking sites using e-mail.  They may be able to block sites, but it’s highly unlikely they’ll block e-mail.  Yay for Flexamail for sticking it to the man.  I can understand blocking Facebook or something like that, but my blog is a valuable public service that should never be blocked.  I mean, how else are you going to keep up with what the Nuh-Uh Girl has been eating?

If you’re a fan of marketing guru Seth Godin’s blog, it’s now available as an iPhone app.

Eating a bacon double cheeseburger from Burger King as I type this.  Mmmm bacon.  All right, I’m getting mustard on the keyboard so I’m going to hit Publish and be done.  Trivia tonight at 7.  I hope Brick is working so she can share more of her knowledge with our team.

I’ve been notified that I need to be at the Silly Goose at 7:30.  Over the past 9 weeks, the top winners in their weekly poker tournaments have accumulated points.  The top 9 point-holders earn a seat at the “final table,” which is tonight, with the winner getting a big prize, I think a cruise for two.  I was told I have a seat at the final table.  Not exactly sure what I’d do if I won a cruise for two, since I have neither a girlfriend nor vacation time.

Still, I’m hoping to win… I’ve been trying to build good poker karma lately.  When I’ve played online tournaments, I’ve noticed how many rude players there are… people who get knocked out, and then get on the chat box and cuss out the person who beat them.  So, the past few times I’ve been eliminated in online tournaments, I’ve typed the following in the chat box:

“nh enjoyed playing with all of you gl everyone”  (nh = nice hand, gl = good luck, common poker chat box abbreviations)

I figure maybe it will help me build up some good poker karma, which maybe I can cash in tonight.

Sauces restaurant on the Main Street Mall has closed down, but a new restaurant will soon rise in its place.  Local Gastropub will have its grand opening Friday night.  I don’t have a whole lot of info on this place yet, but there will be a new interior, a new menu, an enclosed patio and HDTVs.  They have a website but not much is there yet.

Hmmm… a restaurant grand opening… that means the Nuh-Uh Girl will probably be bouncing from table to table going, “That looks good, can I try a bite?”

If anyone took pics at the DNA/SMA holiday party, could you please contact me at paul@paulryburn.com.  I have someone who is looking for a few pics to post to Facebook.

If you’re a pro wrestling fan, tonight is a big night, so you may want to set the DVR if you won’t be home.  On Spike TV there will be a special 3-hour TNA Impact, with Hulk Hogan’s first appearance in the promotion.  In addition to Hogan, I’ve read that Scott Hall and Sean “X-Pac/Syxx-Pac” Waltman are likely to be there, and Angelina Love of the Beautiful People will make her return.  Other names that are rumored but not as likely are Sid Vicious, Rob Van Dam, and “Nature Boy” Ric Flair (whooooo!).  Over on USA, there will be a 3-hour Monday Night Raw where Bret “The Hitman” Hart will confront WWE chairman Mr. McMahon, who screwed him out of the then-WWF title in Montreal 12 years ago.  There’s also a chance Bret will confront his long-time enemy Shawn Michaels.

I guess I’ll have to set my DVR, because I’m not missing Pint Nite at the Saucer.  Nearly all their 75 draft beers only $2.75.  I hope Brick is working tonight – I’m starting to run low on quotes.

I’m sure this device has a name but I can’t remember it.  It allows the dim sum to continue to steam after it has been brought to your table.  Henceforth I will refer to it as the “dim sum thingy.”

Shrimp and leek dim sum in the dim sum thingy

Pork and black mushroom dim sum in the dim sum thingy

Crabmeat fried rice

If dim sum sounds like nirvana to you (and if you look closely you actually can see an image of Kurt Cobain in the pork and mushroom dim sum), they have it every Sunday at Bangkok Alley on Union from noon to 3.

Rotated 90 degrees for maximum effect.

by guest bloggers Glo and Flo

Dear Pot:
(Paul)

There was a definite reason that Glo N Flow appeared drunkety drunk last night. Their alleged BF’s stranded them on NYE and that made Glo N Flo very angry. So angry, in fact, that they just had to go on a weekend bender and explain what happened to every man in site. Who breaks up with their significant other on such a significant holiday, right ladies?!

After explaining the situation to a few fine fellows, they proceeded to by us drinks to console us. This technique was skillfully honed by Flo who mastered the art then shared with Glo. It worked better for Flo than for Glo. But sadly this did really happen to both of us.

And we are not finished. 2010 may be our retaliation year. If you want to be our next victim, please send requests to paul@paulryburn.com. He will have to vouch for us that we are not trolls because we want to remain anonymous. And PAUL YOU BETTER NOT EVER PUBLISH PICS OF US IN OUR DELICATE STATE!

Too bad that our first guest blog post was to defend of our honor. But here is your first dose of female perspective.

Love,
Kettle
(Glo)

After watching the Arkansas Razorbacks eke out a win over ECU at the Liberty Bowl, I stayed at the bar to watch the Grizzlies play the Phoenix Suns.  Those were two very enjoyable hours, as the Grizzlies proceeded to annihilate one of the best teams in the NBA on their home court.  Zach Randolph seemed to have some kind of GPS for finding the basket when he took shots, and Marc Gasol has turned into one of the best centers in the NBA in only his second season.  By the end of the third quarter, the Grizz already had 100 points.  Early in the fourth they put the second team in, and Hasheem Thabeet more than held his own against the Suns.

That victory gets the Grizzlies to .500 for the first time in several years.  It’s now within the realm of possibility that we’ll make the playoffs at the end of the year.  GO GRIZZ!  The Grizzlies finally found a marketing strategy that attracts fans to games – “winning.”  What a great idea.  Here’s a link to ESPN’s recap of the game.

Congrats to Arkansas on their win as well.  Thank goodness Tejada has learned how to kick a field goal.  I’ll say it once again, ECU may have been the opponents but it was a pleasure to have them in town.  They sure conduct themselves with more class than Tennessee fans or Ole Miss fans.  I hope they win Conference USA this coming year so they can make another trip to Memphis.  I might even cheer for them to win, as long as they aren’t facing Arkansas.

I have one recommendation for today, and this time it’s not a Downtown recommendation:  If you live out east, check out Jeffrey and the Pacemakers at Huey’s Poplar tonight.  Great covers of 1960s British rock bands.

Kind of in the mood for something different today… thinking about checking out Dim Sum Sunday at Bangkok Alley.  They don’t open for another hour, so I have a little while to decide.  Usually I head straight to the Saucer at noon, but it will still be there if I get there at 1 or 1:30.  Brick has the day off, so there won’t be any entertainment.  I want to try the Sunday brunch buffet at Silly Goose one of these weeks too, but not today because I’m not hungry for breakfast food.

Memphis vs. Houston Baptist at the FedExForum at 2.  GO TIGERS!

It’s time for another Brick Quote of the Week, nursery rhyme edition.  PROFANITY ALERT:  If you can’t handle profanity, skip this post.  Come to think of it, just assume “profanity alert” for every Brick quote from now on.

This week my friend Clay decided to see how much Brick knew about children’s nursery rhymes.

“See if you can finish this one,” he challenged Brick.  “Jack and Jill went up the hill, to…”

Brick thought about it for a minute.  If you listened closely you could hear the rocks rolling around in her head as she thought.  Then she gave her answer.

“… To fuck?” she said, in all seriousness.

I don’t know about you, but if Brick were to re-write the book of nursery rhymes and children’s stories, it’d be fine with me.  I wonder what she’d do with Jack and the Beanstalk.