Author: paulryburn

I just got home, and it’s 1:54 AM Saturday night.  Or actually, Sunday morning.  Which means it’s the start of a new week.  Which means I can post a new “Brick” quote.

Interesting fact about Brick before we proceed:  If she drinks a Red Bull when she first gets to work, she doesn’t complain about how tired she is for the rest of her shift, but it makes her pee for like five times an hour.

She doubted her nickname tonight, by the way.  “Sometimes I think you call me Brick because I’m dumb as a brick,” Brick told me.

“No, that’s not true,” I replied.  “My friend Clay nicknamed you Brick because you’re built like a brick house.”

She seemed like she wanted proof.  “I’ve been staring at your ass all night,” I told her.  “You have black underwear on.”  That convinced her I was telling the truth, and everything was fine after that.

And now, on with the quote.

Tuesday night we were at the Saucer playing trivia and two of the stars of this blog, Brick and the Nuh-Uh Girl, found themselves in the same place.

The two of them got to talking, and Brick learned that the Nuh-Uh Girl is Jewish.  So they got to talking about Hanukkah, and Brick asked, “That goes on for twelve days, right?”

Twelve Bricks a-thinking… eleven bums a-bumming… ten Brittneys texting… nine pigeons crapping… eight Scratchys scratching… oh hell I’m too drunk to come up with another seven days.  I’m going to heat up a Jimmy Dean sausage biscuit that I bought at Walgreens today, then crash.  If I feel like breakfast food in the morning I may change things up and try the Silly Goose $7 brunch buffet.

‘Tis the week of Hanukkah, good cheer we are bringing… this holiday we celebrate by dancing and singing… gather ’round together, the Brick-a we’ll do… then join in a song that our forefathers knew…

Too rdunk to walk the 30 feet to bed… the living room floor is looking like a seriously good option right now.  More posts in the morning if not ridiculously hung over.

Here’s a pic of the Nuh-Uh Girl eating.  Bicycle Bobby and I were at the bar when she came in.  “I wonder how long before she orders food,” we asked each other.  Not long later, a salmon plate came out.

Since I’m a pro wrestling fan, I figured I’d post a link to YouTube video of a classic match I’d heard about when I was a kid, but never got to see until 27 years later.

February 1983, St. Louis, MO:  NWA World Champion “Nature Boy” Ric Flair defends the title against Bruiser Brody in a best-two-of-three-falls, one hour time limit.  Considered one of the classic world title defenses of the 1980s.  Because of YouTube’s 10-minute limit on uploaded video, it’s broken into six parts.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

The fine folks at Calhoun’s Sports Bar, in the South Main district at GE Patterson and Mulberry, e-mailed to say that they will have the Tigers vs. Southern Miss game on their TVs tonight.  It’s at 7 PM, broadcast on CSS.  They will also have all the NFL playoff games on their 10 TVs.

Still at home playing poker… played a couple of hours of Omaha Hi/Lo, now back to fixed limit Hold’em.  Down a little today, thanks to an expensive hand where I flopped a straight, but the board paired on the river to turn my opponent’s set of 10s into a full house.  At least I’m earning lots of frequent player points.  Will probably be out later tonight, although with the low predicted to be around 10, I doubt I will venture too far from home.

The SMA recently upgraded their website, so that it has details of all the things they have going on currently, whereas before it had details of the upcoming May 2009 meeting.  They also have sections about dining, Trolley Tour, and shopping, and there’s a photo gallery.  Looks great!  Don’t forget that there’s an SMA meeting Tuesday night at the Center for Southern Folklore.

If you want to network with the SMA, you can follow them on Twitter at @SMAMemphis.  You can also find them on Facebook under “South Main Association.”  When I searched for them, the South Mumbai Association came up in the results as well.  I’m sure they’re an interesting group too.

Last night:  Couple of hours at the Saucer, couple of hours at Bardog, over to my friends Shawn and Joe’s place to shoot pool.  While at Bardog, my friend Christina who is organizing the Jersey Shore Pub Crawl told me that she wants to dress me up for it – she wants to give me a fake spray-on tan and the blowout hairdo that Jerz guido douchebags have.  Can a blowout really be done on hair as long as mine?  Seems like it would take an entire tube of maximum-strength gel.  And who knows how many times I’d have to wash my hair the next morning to get all that junk out.

My friend Joe cut Saucer bartender Brittney’s hair earlier in the week, and while I agree that something needs to be done about her hair, he should have had her brush it forward so it completely covers her face.  Now that he’s cut her hair, she has his cell number, and now she’s texting him all the time.  If I had Old Lazy Ass texting me all the time I think I’d flush my iPhone down the toilet.

No plans at all for the day… guess I’ll get on PokerStars and play some more Omaha Hi/Lo.

We’ve got a Friday night coming up, but I can’t see much incentive to get out in temperatures that may drop into the single digits… hmmm… just took a look at the DowntownMemphis.com calendar for today. If you’re going to get out in this weather, my recommendation would be the opening of Local, the new gastropub in the old Sauces location. The Nuh-Uh Girl has been asking people all week, in person and on Twitter, if anyone is going, because she’s not one to pass up an opportunity for food.

Otherwise, you can look at the calendar and figure it out for yourself… if you like MMA, there’s an event tonight at the New Daisy. Grizzlies host the Utah Jazz at the FedExForum at 7.

Unless something compelling comes up, I may just stay home with the netbook and play poker… thanks to Air Traffic Mike’s recommendation, I’m starting to get into Omaha Hi/Lo. Seems like a good game, with less need for bluffing than Hold’em, and more bad players at the tables because there’s less literature out there on Omaha.

If you haven’t been for Bardog for breakfast (they open at 8 on weekdays now), check out this post on the I Love Memphis blog. It’s round 7 of the Breakfast brackets, and Bardog handily defeated CK’s. The bacon and the scrambled eggs got especially high marks, and the breakfast was also rated a good value for the money. Of course, the service at Bardog is always outstanding.

There’s a 5K taking place tomorrow between 4 and 6:30 PM, so allow for extra driving time if you’re traveling in or out of Downtown during those hours.

Hmmm I was just about to type congratulations to Alabama for their win last night, and in comes an e-mail from regular blog reader Moody asking why I haven’t bothered to say anything about the Tide, considering I blog about other SEC teams like Arkansas.  Fine then, Roll Tide.  Happy now?

Eating an antipasto salad from Blimpie as I type this… my health guru would be proud.

It’s Thursday evening and surprisingly, I’m not out at the Saucer.  With the BCS championship game on TV, I have no doubt it will be smoky, loud, and crowded full of dudes.  No thanks, I’ll pass.  Staying home tonight, playing poker online and about to watch TNA Impact.  I’ll switch over to the football game on commercials.  Roll Tide I guess, but I really don’t care.

I saw on Facebook that Earnestine & Hazel’s now has a website.  You can see it here.  I wonder why they don’t have a “menu” section of their site?

Speaking of menus… I see that South of Beale now has their winter menu on their site.  Mmmm venison… braised beef short rib peasant pie sounds good too.

Here’s a link to an interview that Judy Peiser of the Center for Southern Folklore did about Elvis Presley’s comfort food.

Mesquite Chop House is doing a Dogfish Head brewery dinner on Wednesday, January 27.  Menu to be released by Monday… I’ll try to link to it once it’s up.  I went to one of these a few years ago at the Saucer and it was really good – the brewery brought some beers rarely seen in this part of the country.  Plus, with Michael Patrick in the kitchen cooking, you know the food will be delicious.

The hottest team in the NBA, the Memphis Grizzlies, host the Dr. Martin Luther King Game and Celebration at the FedExForum on January 18, which is MLK Day.  NBA legends Oscar Robertson and Alonzo Mourning will be honored for their contribution to civil and human rights.  There will be a High School Classic, Melrose vs. Germantown, tipping off at 1 PM with doors open at 12:30.  Next will be an MLK Day Sports Legacy and Symposium with Robertson and Mourning sharing their experiences.  The game will tip off at 4:30, televised on TNT, with the awards ceremony prior to the game, recording artist Brian McKnight singing the national anthem, and a halftime ceremony honoring Dr. King, recognizing Robertson and Mourning and featuring a performance by McKnight.  I’ve been told you can get special ticket pricing if you call account executive Carlos directly at 901-205-1491.

I had a good time drinking my favorite beer Dos Equis Lager on Fire Sale last night at the Saucer, and got a bonus when the elusive and mysterious Kimmy Kim showed up.  Hung out and talked with her for several hours, and the fountain of knowledge known as Brick also came over several times.  Brick told us that she recently cooked a turkey.  “The part I hate most is cleaning the guts out of the inside of the turkey,” she said.  “That’s just nasty.  You know, some people put them back in and stuff the turkey with them.  I tried it once.  It was gross, trying to put all those chicken guts back in the turkey.”  I guess turkey guts magically turn into chicken guts somehow once they’ve been removed.

“Now all you’d need is a duck, and you’d have a turducken,” I told her.  Brick didn’t know what a “turducken” was.

All right, time for me to hit Publish and get serious about my poker game.  Time to make some money!

Here are a couple of ways you can give the gift of warmth and comfort this extremely cold week.

MLGW has a “Gift of Comfort” assistance program.  If there’s someone you know who is not doing so well, you can give the gift of comfort by making a payment toward their utility bill.  Get more information about this program here.

Or, you can donate to the Memphis Union Mission.  I hear they are in need of coats and blankets right now, as homeless flock to the mission in this cold weather to try to get a warm night’s sleep. 

In other news… congrats to our trivia team on a first-place win last night.  We’re now up to $250 in beer money to spend on our next big party.

I had a good night before trivia too… I decided to play an hour of $1/$2 fixed limit hold’em on PokerStars before making the trek to the Saucer. I sat down with $40 just after 5:00 and had turned it into $85 by 6:00.  I’m finding that I like fixed-limit hold’em better than no-limit for cash ring games (still prefer no-limit for tournaments though).  You can play at a higher level and accumulate frequent player points much faster.  Also, fixed-limit forces you to hone your intution and develop a fine sense of whether you have best hand.  You can’t rely solely on aggression to be a winning player.

I’ll probably do the same thing tonight, an hour of poker then the Saucer.  It’s glass night, Carlsberg I believe.

It’s time for the annual State of Downtown address given by the Center City Commission every January.  It will happen at the monthly South Main Association meeting on Tuesday, January 12 at the Center for Southern Folklore.  Featured speakers will be Leslie Gower, VP of Marketing, and Jerome Rubin, VP of Operations.  Downtown is thriving, even in the economic downturn, so come hear the speeches and find out what all is happening.  Social at 6:00, event at 6:30.

There will be a cash bar, and complimentary hors d’oeuvres catered by Neal Jackson.  Free food?  Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

This one didn’t happen last night at the Goose, but rather in the World Record tournament I played on PokerStars the Sunday after Christmas.  It was about midway through and I had a medium-sized stack.

In early position, I was dealt AA.  Happy to see the best starting hand in no-limit hold’em, I put in a standard raise of a few times the big blind.

Player two seats to my left went all-in.  Player two seats to that player’s left called the all-in.  I happily called with my pocket rockets.

We flipped over our cards.  Player to my left had AJ.  Player to his left had A8.  I smiled, seeing that my opponents were way behind in the hand.  I was likely about to triple my stack.

Flop was interesting – 999.  I liked that flop a lot, because it improved my hand to a full house.  It would be virtually impossible for my opponents to come from behind to win.

Then the turn came and I wanted to throw my netbook across the room.  Turn was another 9.  Since hold’em takes the best five cards of seven, my opponents had now tied me – all three of us now had four of a kind, Nines, with an Ace kicker.  The river card, which was meaningless, was a deuce.

I still finished in the money, but I would’ve got much deeper into the tournament if that hand had gone my way.  Can’t win ’em all I guess.

Time to shut down the laptop and head to trivia.  I need to learn how to use the Voice Recorder app on my iPhone so I can make sure I don’t miss any pearls of wisdom that come out of Brick’s mouth.